Pope Leo warns of AI threat to humanity at start of three-day France visit

Pontiff says artificial intelligence must remain at service of people in first official papal visit to country in 18 years

Pope Leo has warned against losing humanity in a “paradise of machines” as he addressed global concerns over the dangers of artificial intelligence at the start of a three-day visit to France.

“If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for people to be educated in ethical discernment, capable of seeing what is morally right,” he said in a speech at the Élysée.

At a second address on Friday, the 71-year-old head of the Catholic church insisted that new technologies must “remain at the service of the human person rather than becoming yet another instrument of domination and injustice” in remarks to a gathering at the Paris headquarters ⁠of the UN culture and education body, ⁠Unesco.

“Every science risks losing its proper meaning when pursued without ethics,” he said. “Certain artificial systems have even been given the name of our human faculty of thought: intelligence. At the same time, however, our ideas and relationships risk being impoverished by a process of dehumanisation.”