Pope Leo urges “disarming” AI in new encyclical

Pope Leo XIV released a major document on Monday centered on the impact of artificial intelligence on humanity, warning that the technology could make civilization “less human.”

Pope Leo, who has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration over the Iran war and some U.S. officials' religious justification for it, also appeared to dismiss the argument that the conflict was a necessary preemptive measure for American safety, News.Az reports, citing CBS news.

"Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to sealf-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the 'just war' theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated," he wrote in his Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), an 82-page teaching known as an encyclical.

Francis also issued a first-ever apology for the Vatican's role in facilitating and justifying the transatlantic slave trade, calling it "a wound in Christian memory."

"For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon," he wrote. 

But the vast majority of the encyclical was devoted to what Leo clearly sees as humanity's risk-laden embrace of AI.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli