Pope Leo XIV Says AI Safety Fears Are Real, Not 'Fake News'

Pope Leo XIV said on Monday that worries about artificial intelligence turning dangerous are not "fake news" and deserve serious attention, urging that safety questions raised by experts be discussed and acted upon.

The pope made the remarks during a press conference aboard the papal plane as he returned from a four-day visit to France. Asked what the United States and China in particular should do to prevent AI from posing catastrophic risks to humanity, he called for broad dialogue.

"This is a problem that I think we need to sit down and talk about," the American pope told reporters. "We can't just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen."

His comments contrast with President Donald Trump's description of concerns about AI going rogue as a "hoax." Trump has positioned himself as a champion of the technology, frequently warning that the United States must stay ahead of China in the technological race and describing efforts to limit AI as a conspiracy by his political opponents.

Several major AI companies, including Anthropic, have called for a slowdown in development so that safety measures can catch up. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that within six to 12 months AI could be capable of directing a swarm of agents able to take over the entire internet. Trump said on Sunday that he planned a late dinner with Amodei, but has not commented on the meeting.

Leo, who devoted his first encyclical to AI and the protection of humanity, said he was not alarmed but believed expert warnings warranted attention. "If someone were to ask me 'Am I in panic mode?' No I'm not. I sleep at night," he said. "I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI should be taken seriously."

He added that he did not consider such concerns to be "fake news" advanced for financial or other gain.

In his encyclical "Magnificent Humanity," the pope called for robust regulation of AI and a slowdown in its development. Despite the fatigue of the trip, he noted a news report on Monday about Nvidia introducing guardrails into AI, and observed that the company had previously resisted outside regulation of the field.

"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 said.

"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."

The pope's warning comes amid mounting anxiety about AI both inside and outside the industry, with reports of increasingly powerful systems that can solve problems beyond human capacity but might also be misused. The head of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, told Fortune that it would wait until next year to begin selling its stock to investors on Wall Street as it focuses on safety.

Leo said the Vatican had received comments from people eager to join a broader conversation on AI since the encyclical was published in May. A Vatican commission is working to promote dialogue, study and investigation aimed at ensuring AI does not reach a point of destroying humanity or removing people from the conversation.

The pope said he was "relatively optimistic" that solutions could be found. "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," he said.

Leo identified AI as one of the biggest challenges facing humanity within days of his election.