AI must serve humans, rather than 'become an instrument of domination and injustice', pope warns

Pope Leo XIV warned against the dangers of artificial intelligence on Friday, stating that new technologies must "remain at the service of the human person", rather than becoming "yet another instrument of domination and injustice."

Speaking at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris as part of his four-day trip to France, the pontiff declared that AI risks impoverishing human “ideas and relationships” through a “process of dehumanisation", while also criticising the ever-growing emphasis on productivity in modern societies.

Delivering his speech in both French and English, he argued that judging people according to the "criterion of efficiency" risked undermining respect for human dignity, leading "those who are no longer productive" to be rejected and discarded.

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a prominent theme of the Pope's pontificate. In May, he published his first 42,300 word encyclical entitled "Magnifica humanitas", which addressed the risks that unchecked artificial intelligence creates for humans, arguing in favour of further regulatory oversight.

In his speech, the Pope stressed the need to ensure that emerging technologies offer adequate safeguards for children, stating that the "vulnerability" of young people must "never become an opportunity for exploitation."

European policymakers have been grappling with how to protect children from online harms, with measures such as school phone bans already in place, while the European Commission has proposed the Kids Act, which could restrict social media access for children under 13, gaining increasing attention.