Pope Leo warns AI risks creating paradise of machines

Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that a “paradise of machines” risked undermining humanity as he opened a trip to France by posing fundamental questions about what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence, a nuclear arms race and other threats to life itself.

Leo raised existential concerns about scientific progress, life and human rights during his opening speech to President Emmanuel Macron and authorities at the Élysée Palace and then to diplomats and United Nations employees at the headquarters of UNESCO, the U.N. Culture and education organization. With wars plaguing Europe and the Middle East, he reaffirmed the Vatican’s opposition to nuclear weapons and said the nuclear deterrence doctrine was “mistaken” since it was just fueling a new arms race.

Peace is not a balance of power; rather, it is built day by day through dialogue and justice, he said.

Emmanuel Macron and France Welcome the First Papal State Visit in Years

Church bells tolled across the country when Leo’s charter flight landed at Paris’ Orly airport, and more than a million people are expected to turn out to see him. They lined the streets of the capital as Leo’s motorcade passed by, underscoring the surprising level of interest in Leo’s visit, the first official state visit by a pope in 18 years. President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron greeted the pontiff on the tarmac, where a red carpet was rolled out.

Macron said Leo’s visit brings “a source of hope” to many French people. For Macron, who is barred from seeking a third term in May elections, hosting the American pope is something of a capstone. Pope Francis had refused repeatedly to make a proper state visit to France during his 12-year pontificate and pointedly refused to join the inauguration of the rebuilt Notre Dame cathedral in 2024. With seven months left in his term, Macron’s approval ratings are near record lows, driven by anger over the rising cost of living and criticism of France’s growing debt and deficit and deteriorating public services.

For a president of the republic as Macron, who is at the end of his mandate, it can be important to be aside the pope and to capture a part of his popularity, said Charles Mercier, director of history and sociology of Catholicism studies at Paris EPHE university.

Critiques of Global Leadership and Safeguarding Humanity from Artificial Intelligence

At the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, Leo scolded world leaders who disregard the rule of law and warned that international dialogue risked becoming a "charade." Instead of respecting the law, those in power invoke it when it serves their interests and disregard it when it restrains them, treating even justice itself as though it were a commodity to be bought and sold.

Turning to technology, the pope warned that humanity faced a growing paradox. While “intelligence” is attributed to computational systems, we struggle to recognize the inalienable dignity of human persons, whose lives are judged according to the criterion of efficiency and, when deemed no longer productive, are rejected and discarded.

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 education in ethical discernment and the capacity to acknowledge the moral good, he said.

From the very start of his pontificate, Leo has identified AI as one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. He dedicated his first encyclical to the topic, “Magnificent Humanity,” calling for robust regulation and for AI developers to work for the common good rather than profit. Speaking to reporters en route to Paris, Leo said he was pleased that his message was being heard and said he hoped the dialogue that the Vatican had initiated with tech companies would continue, noting that many of them are very much open to ensuring AI does not displace or ultimately destroy humanity.

The pontiff also addressed wider ethical issues in a country where the right to abortion was enshrined in the constitution in 2024, and where lawmakers recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication. Leo reminded France that the right to life is the “indispensable foundation of every other human right,” expressing concern over trends that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one's own death.

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Following his engagements in Paris—including a popemobile procession along a 2.5-kilometer route, Vespers at the newly reopened Notre-Dame cathedral, and a gathering with young believers at a stadium in Saint-Denis—Pope Leo is scheduled to continue his apostolic journey to Lourdes to meet privately with victims of clerical abuse, and to Metz near the German border to speak further on European peace.