Pope Lav XIV: Artificial intelligence must remain in service of people, not an instrument of injustice
At UNESCO in Paris during a four-day visit to France, Pope Lav XIV warned that AI risks dehumanising ideas and relationships and urged safeguards for children.
Pope Lav XIV used a speech at UNESCO headquarters in Paris to warn about the dangers of artificial intelligence and to argue that new technologies should serve people rather than widen inequality.
Speaking during a four-day visit to France, the pontiff said that technological advances risk impoverishing human “ideas and relationships” through what he called a “process of dehumanization,” and criticised contemporary societies’ growing emphasis on productivity.
He warned that assessing people by “the criterion of efficiency” threatens to undermine respect for human dignity and can lead to the rejection and neglect of those who are “no longer productive.”
Pope calls for protective measures
Pope Lav XIV emphasised the need for safeguards to ensure that new technologies include adequate protections for children, saying that the “vulnerability” of young people “must never become an opportunity for exploitation.”
The pontiff, who treats artificial intelligence as a central theme of his pontificate, called for policies and ethical frameworks that prevent AI from becoming “yet another instrument of domination and injustice” and that keep innovation oriented toward human flourishing.
His remarks at the UNESCO seat in Paris came as part of a visit aimed at engaging with international organisations and highlighting moral and social dimensions of technological change.
Photo: press material from the event
