Pope Leo says AI concerns are not ‘fake news,’ must act on safety issues

Pope Leo XIV on Monday said mounting concerns about artificial intelligence software going rogue require discussions on how to regulate it, dismissing the notion that they are “fake news.”

“If someone were to ask me, ‘Am I in panic mode?’ No, I’m not,” Leo told reporters while leaving France for Vatican City. “I sleep at night. I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI should be taken seriously.”

The American pontiff added, “I don’t think that that is ‘fake news’ as some have said to try and cause whether financial or other some other kind of benefit,” noting that the world cannot “just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.”

Leo said days after the conclave elected him pope that AI presents one of the biggest challenges facing humanity.

“We need to continue to invite political leaders, leaders of AI, social organizations, associations to come together and look at what is happening already and what could be down the road,” he told reporters Monday. “To simply say, ‘Oh it’s not going to happen,’ and close our eyes to it, I think is probably not the most responsible way to go about that.”

Leo said he has received comments from people interested in joining the broader discussion on AI after he published his encyclical in May. The pope said he remains “relatively optimistic” that discussions will lead to solutions.

“I think there are enough people seriously interested in that and willing to look at that outside of the questions once again of power, who gets there first,” Leo said.

The discourse over AI has grown in recent weeks after several attempted and successful hacks committed by rogue AI software, including an attempted hack by OpenAI technology through the Department of Education website and improper interaction with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Census Bureau.

Members of Congress have called for stronger restrictions on AI, particularly after former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon suggested that AI could end human life by the end of the decade.

Some lawmakers have said that tech companies should pause while Congress gets to work on possible legislation to regulate AI. Others, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), have called for a permanent ban on the development and deployment of artificial superintelligence.

President Trump has dismissed all concerns over the risks posed by AI. He cast warnings aside as a hoax but said he will launch an “AI Force” and an “AI czar” to oversee the technology’s development.

He told the United Nations General Assembly last Tuesday that official U.S. documents will refer to AI as “ super intelligence ,” saying that artificial makes the technology sound fake when it is “actually amazing.”