Pope Leo Rejects Dismissal of AI Safety Risks and Calls for Talks

Pope Leo XIV pushed back against dismissing AI safety fears on Monday, saying experts’ concerns are not “fake news” and should lead to discussion and action. Speaking to reporters on a flight from France to Rome, he called on political leaders, AI leaders and social organizations to examine both current effects and possible future risks. His remarks challenged President Donald Trump’s description of fears about AI going rogue as a “hoax.”

Concern without panic

Leo was asked what the United States and China should do to prevent AI from posing catastrophic risks. He did not claim that such an outcome was inevitable. “No I’m not. I sleep at night,” he said when asked whether he was in panic mode. His point was narrower: warnings from AI specialists deserve attention rather than dismissal. That distinction matters because taking a risk seriously is not the same as claiming to know when, or whether, it will happen.

He asked leaders to look at what AI is doing already as well as what could happen later. That puts immediate effects and longer-term dangers in the same conversation, without treating them as identical. Leo also said it would be irresponsible simply to assume the feared outcomes will not occur. He was urging a response to uncertainty, not presenting evidence that a catastrophic scenario is close.

We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.

Pope Leo XIV, speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane

A dispute over the starting point

Trump has called fears of AI going rogue a “hoax” and described efforts to limit the technology as a political “conspiracy.” He has emphasized keeping the United States ahead of China in AI development. Leo’s answer took aim at the dismissal of safety concerns, not at a specific Trump proposal. The difference is still consequential: if leaders disagree about whether a warning merits attention, they have not yet reached the question of which protections to adopt.

Leo has gone further than calling for conversation before. His May encyclical, “Magnificent Humanity,” called for robust AI regulation and a slowdown in development. On Monday, however, his immediate request was to bring political leaders, people leading AI development and social organizations together. That invitation identifies who he thinks should participate, but it does not specify a shared test for danger or a decision those participants would have to make.

The Vatican’s work—and its limits

The Vatican is already pursuing that discussion. Leo said a commission is working on dialogue, study and investigation aimed at preventing AI from destroying humanity or excluding people from decisions about it. He also said the Vatican had heard from people interested in a broader conversation since the encyclical appeared. The commission gives his appeal an existing forum for study; it is not a newly announced safety rule.

Leo said he was “relatively optimistic” that solutions could be found, pointing to people willing to consider the risks beyond questions of power and who gets ahead first. That outlook sits alongside his warning, rather than erasing it. He wants the people shaping AI’s future to keep talking even as they compete. What remains unsettled is how that conversation would turn concern into safeguards—and whether leaders who reject the premise would take part.