Let’s disarm AI, says Pope Leo
In his first encyclical the Pope says we need to prevent AI from “dominating humanity”
In his first encyclical, entitled Magnifica humanitas (Magnificent humanity), released yesterday, Pope Leo XIV calls for “robust legal frameworks” and “independent oversight” of artificial intelligence (AI) but said “merely regulating it is insufficient; it must be disarmed.”
To address the risks posed by AI, he said, “What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating.”
He called on AI CEOs to end the AI race, which he described as being in pursuit of “geopolitical or commercial dominance.” He said “to disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity”.
He also expressed alarm over the “remarkable pace at which these systems are developing.”
AI is not like other technologies
Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from a pope to the Catholic Church’s 1.4 billion members and outline what he considers to be top societal priorities. Choosing to focus his first encyclical on the risks of AI suggests that the Pope believes AI – and how to mitigate the risks – to be the most pressing and pertinent of our time.
Pope Leo explained that the development of AI is qualitatively different from earlier waves of technology: “We find ourselves facing a new situation… Never has humanity had such power over itself.”
He expressed concern over the pace of AI development and drew attention to “the speed of technological growth and the slower development of awareness, norms, safeguards and institutions capable of governing its effects.”
He is particularly concerned about the concentration of power in the hand of a few, namely the CEOs of AI companies: “Those who control AI will impose their own moral vision, which will become the invisible infrastructure of these systems. A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few.”
AI should be regulated, says the Catholic Church
This is not the first time the Catholic Church has warned of the dangers of AI. In his first interview after his election, Pope Leo warned of “extremely rich people” who are investing in AI and totally ignoring “the value of human beings and humanity,” adding, “I think the Church needs to speak up.”
In a December 2025 speech to participants in an AI conference in Rome, he asked, “How can we ensure that the development of artificial intelligence truly serves the common good, and is not just used to accumulate wealth and power in the hands of a few?”
Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, a longtime associate of Pope Leo XIV, has said, “These tools shouldn’t be demonised, but they need to be regulated. The question is, who will regulate them? It’s not credible for them to be regulated by their makers. There needs to be a superior authority.”
Attitudes towards AI are becoming increasingly negative
Pope Leo’s unease over AI development is reflective of public opinion. AI concern is rising, optimism is fragile and support for regulation is growing, especially in the US, UK and other Western democracies.
There is growing distrust in both governments and AI companies and the more people learn more about AI, the more concerned about the risks they become.
This is reflected in the polls. In 2024, 72 percent of the UK public said laws and regulation would increase their comfort with AI, up from 62 percent two years earlier. Nine out of ten now support an independent AI regulator with enforcement powers.
The number of people that believe AI poses a catastrophic risk has shot up: 83 percent of Americans now think AI could accidentally cause a catastrophic event.
AI will usher in economic instability
Pope Leo urged that “the pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means.”
He warned that “without bold decisions, the prospect of greater poverty and inequality looms large, which would leave many individuals marginalized, stranded and surrounded by the machines and automated systems that have replaced them.”
His worries echo public sentiment; there is growing anxiety over job security and the economy, and for good reason. According to Goldman Sachs, shifts in workflows triggered by AI advances could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation. This could be a conservative estimate though: AI expert Professor Stuart Russell has said AI could replace almost every job.
The CEOs of AI companies have openly admitted that jobs will be lost. OpenAI’s Sam Altman said “there is going to be real pain” and “whole categories of jobs will disappear.” Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Google are all cutting thousands of jobs – in many cases these jobs are being replaced by AI.
PauseAI’s role: turning public concern into action
The race to build ever more powerful AI is happening without democratic consent. A handful of companies are building systems they themselves admit pose catastrophic risks to humanity. The public has no say in this. This is what we are working to change.
Our role is to empower citizens and communities to demand a pause, as an unstoppably strong voice grounded in collective legitimacy. Politicians act when it becomes clear to them that their constituents will take it upon themselves to vote and mobilise around an issue.
Without an organised public demanding a pause on the most dangerous AI systems, governments will not take action; not until the political cost of inaction is greater than the political cost of acting. PauseAI exists to build this community in multiple countries.
Whether you can spare two minutes of your time or ten hours a week, your action makes a difference.
Sign the statement calling for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence. Write to your elected official using our email builder demanding a pause in the development of AI. Join your local PauseAI chapter or group, or volunteer for PauseAI.
We’d love to hear from you: through our current campaign AI is not just coming for your job we are aiming to amplify your concerns. While many are worried about the growing influence of AI, the risks and current harms are often not communicated.
We are not powerless to the whims of a handful of AI companies; on the contrary our movement is growing. It won’t be long before policy makers are forced to act. Be part of it.
PauseAI is a non-profit organisation active in 15 countries. We work to ensure that the development of the most powerful AI systems is safe and democratically controlled. Our role is to build the movement that demands a pause. We do this by informing the public, engaging with policymakers, and organising campaigns and events.
What fascinates me about this moment is that humanity increasingly seems to realize intelligence alone may not be enough to safely guide civilization.
The deeper challenge may be whether humanity can remain psychologically grounded, morally serious, and meaning-oriented while building systems capable of reshaping labor, cognition, identity, and society itself.
Fear alone probably isn’t sufficient.
But blind acceleration may not be either
He also made a very good analogy with the tower of babel, which is entirely worth reading.
"Babel thus reveals the limits of any effort that, however grandiose, arises from self-affirmation, sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing."... "We must, then, avoid the “Babel syndrome,” namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance."