Pope Leo warns humanity could become ‘victim of its own inventions’ amid rapid AI advances

Speaking to members of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences, the pope urged researchers to help public authorities address the growing impact of digital technologies on society, Vatican News reported Friday.

“The speed at which innovations in AI, in artificial intelligence,” he said, “are developing prompts us to ask whether, in the future, we will be able to control these machines, and whether humanity runs the risk of becoming victim of its own inventions.”

He said the issue could affect every level of social life and called for greater attention to preserving the role of humans in decision-making.

“One of the serious problems today,” Pope Leo warned, “is the fact that decisions concerning human life are being entrusted to machines.”

The pope praised efforts to reaffirm “the irreplaceable nature of human intelligence in the face of these technological tools.”

He also called for an ethical framework to govern the development and use of AI and other digital technologies.

Pope Leo said such technologies were becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of major economic and technological actors, while governments struggled to exercise effective oversight.

He urged the institute’s members to continue their research “in order to find the ways and means of contributing to public administration in the humanization of digital technologies, so that they may serve life and peace.”

He said confronting the challenges posed by technology was essential because they “closely affects our way of life and permeates every level of social life.”