Pope Leo says concerns about AI doom scenarios are not ‘fake news’

On Monday, Pope Leo stated that worries surrounding AI potentially leading to the end of the world are not "fake news" and deserve serious consideration, in what appeared to be a rebuke of US President Donald Trump. The first ever pontiff to ascend to the papacy, who has continuously warned of the perils of AI throughout his 16-month reign, also harshly criticized tech industry leaders who argued against implementing safeguards on the technology.

During a press conference on his return flight to Rome after a four-day trip to France, the pope clarified, "I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously." He expressed disbelief that this stance would be deemed "fake news" by some individuals. Last week, Trump informed the UN General Assembly that he believed the fears about potential risks AI poses to humanity were a "hoax."

The pope expressed skepticism regarding Nvidia's CEO, who announced on Monday that a possible method to insert "guardrails" into certain AI models might exist. Yet, Pope Leo remained doubtful, adding, "He's the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation." According to CNBC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had previously stated that safety concerns regarding AI were exaggerated.

US President Donald Trump plans to meet with technology CEOs regarding artificial intelligence at the White House on Tuesday. Participants in the meeting are expected to include Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Greg Brockman, as well as Google's Sundar Pichai and SpaceXAI executive Elon Musk. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also confirmed his attendance.

Johnson emphasized that the discussions would aim to strike a balance between innovation and oversight, warning that the US risked falling behind in the AI race to China if it opted for "hyper-regulation." Pope Leo urged the world to "promote dialogue, study, investigation, to find ways to ensure that AI does not reach a point where it could destroy humanity." He reiterated, "We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing’s going to happen."