Pope: AI must serve people, not become an instrument of domination and injustice

Pope Leo XIV warned Friday about the risks of technology and artificial intelligence at UNESCO, saying new technologies must remain at the service of people instead of becoming “another instrument of domination and injustice.”

Speaking at UNESCO headquarters in Paris as part of his four-day trip to France, the Pope said artificial intelligence risks impoverishing human “ideas and relationships” through a “process of dehumanization,” while also criticizing the growing emphasis on productivity in modern societies.

Delivering his address in both French and English, he argued that judging people by the “criterion of efficiency” risked undermining respect for human dignity, causing “those who are no longer productive” to be rejected and discarded.

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a prominent theme of the Pope’s pontificate. In May he published a writing titled “Magnifica humanitas,” addressing the risks uncontrolled artificial intelligence poses to people and arguing for further regulatory oversight.

In his speech, the Pope stressed the need to ensure emerging technologies offer adequate protection for children, declaring that the “vulnerability” of young people “must never become an opportunity for exploitation.”

European policymakers have struggled to find ways to protect children from online harms, with measures such as school phone bans already in force, while the European Commission has proposed the Children’s Act, which could restrict social media access for children under 13, gaining increasing attention.