Pope says AI must be ‘disarmed’ to prevent domination, exclusion, and death

Pope Leo emphasized that control of AI data should not be left just to private companies. He called on lawmakers to safeguard workers' rights and protect children from the technology, advocating for reduced competition among AI firms. “We need more active political participation that can slow things down when everything is speeding up,” Leo stated. He also demanded “strong legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users, and a political system that takes its responsibilities seriously.” “AI must be disarmed and freed from being a tool of domination, exclusion, and death,” he remarked. “Similar to nuclear energy, it should benefit everyone and promote the common good.” This much-anticipated document, which is nearly 43,000 words long, has been in development since Leo became pope just over a year ago. He introduced the encyclical alongside AI experts, including Christopher Olah, co-founder of the American company Anthropic. Anthropic is currently in a legal dispute with the US military for opposing the use of its technology in lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance. During the presentation, Olah noted that AI companies operate within a framework of incentives and restrictions that can sometimes clash with ethical actions. He encouraged involvement from external groups like the Catholic Church to “steer things in a better direction,” emphasizing that the issues raised by AI extend beyond just the AI research community. Olah pointed out three urgent concerns: the threat of significant job losses, the need for AI benefits to reach all corners of the globe, and the challenge of understanding increasingly complex and sometimes unclear system behaviors. In the encyclical, Leo also raised alarms about AI-controlled weaponry, stating it is “not acceptable to leave lethal” decisions to technology. Pope Leo has had ongoing disagreements with the White House regarding the US-Israel conflict over Iran and the use of religion to justify warfare.