Human dignity must be protected from rise of AI, Pope says

Pope Leo XIV has told the Vatican’s first Mass for Catholic social media influencers that human dignity needs to be protected online as the world faces the “challenge” of artificial intelligence (AI).

“Nothing that comes from man and his creativity should be used to undermine the dignity of others,” the Pope said in St Peter’s Basilica.

He said the developing technology should be used for the “benefit of all humanity” during comments at the Vatican’s Jubilee of Youth, a week-long gathering for young worshipers which is held every 25 years.

It is the latest in a string of interventions the Pope has made on the subject of AI since he was elected in May.

During Tuesday’s speech, the Pope called on the world to protect “our ability to listen and speak” in a “new era”.

“We have a duty to work together to develop a way of thinking, to develop a language, of our time, that gives voice to love,” the Pope said.

He also urged social media influencers to seek out “those who suffer and need to know the Lord” with their content.

“Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarisation, of individualism and egocentrism,” he added.

During his first Sunday address in May, Pope Leo XIV suggested that the development of AI, and other advances, meant the Church was necessary for the defence of human dignity and justice.

Pope Leo XIV, who studied maths at Philadelphia’s Villanova University in 1977, is the first pontiff from the United States.

Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent, Leo served as an altar boy and was ordained in 1982.

Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned regularly to the US to serve as a priest and a prior in his home city.

He has Peruvian nationality and is fondly remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges.