Pope Leo says AI risk concerns not ‘fake news’

During a stopover on a flight back to Rome, Pope Leo expressed his serious view on concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to threaten humanity. The concerns were expressed in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's claims that fear of AI dangers were a "hoax." The pontiff noted that the opinions of AI experts should not be dismissed as "fake news."

Pope Leo criticized technology CEOs who argued for the absence of guardrails or regulation on AI technology. He pointed out that one of these CEOs, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, had recently expressed uncertainty regarding the potential for inserting safety measures into AI models. However, the pope remained skeptical of Huang's stance, as the same CEO had previously expressed the belief that there should be no limits and no government regulation on AI development.

During a U.N. General Assembly speech, Trump urged for less government intervention in AI development, stating his belief that fears were unfounded. The pope did not directly quote Trump, but he echoed similar sentiments by expressing doubt in the necessity of regulation on AI technology.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, and OpenAI's Greg Brockman are among the tech executives who will meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday. The purpose of the meeting is to find a balance between innovation and oversight in AI development. Trump is expected to warn that the U.S. risks losing the AI race to China if it "hyper-regulates" the technology.

Pope Leo urged the world to promote dialogue, study, and investigation into AI development, emphasizing the need to prevent AI from reaching a point where it could destroy humanity. He stated that while there are many who are seriously interested in addressing these concerns, continued efforts are necessary to ensure AI's responsible and safe development.