Pope Leo warns AI weapons are ‘beyond human control’ amid call for disarming
The Vatican has issued a stark warning regarding the trajectory of military technology, with Pope Leo stating that certain AI-powered weapons are approaching a state where they are practically beyond human control.
Pope Leo has issued a formal warning regarding the development and deployment of artificial intelligence-powered weapons systems, describing them as increasingly “practically beyond human control.” In conjunction with this assessment, the Pontiff has called for the “disarming” of artificial intelligence, marking a significant escalation in the Vatican’s engagement with emerging military technologies.
The statement follows the release of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical on artificial intelligence, which established a foundational framework for the Church’s position on the technology. In that document, the Pope argued that AI lacks moral conscience, spiritual perspective, and the capacity for genuine understanding. While acknowledging that these systems may surpass human intelligence in terms of speed and computational capacity, the encyclical emphasised that they merely imitate human functions without possessing the ability to bear responsibility.
Central to the previous encyclical was the mandate that humans, not AI, must make all decisions related to weapons. The document sought to address the ethical void in autonomous systems, noting that AI does not undergo experiences, possess a physical body, or feel joy and pain. Consequently, the Pope stressed that these technologies cannot be held accountable for their actions, reinforcing the necessity of human oversight in lethal decision-making processes.
Beyond the immediate ethical concerns, the encyclical also addressed the broader socio-political implications of technological power. Pope Leo called for the establishment of adequate regulatory tools to curb the distorting effects of technological dominance and to prevent the further consolidation of wealth, which he noted was already concentrated in the hands of a few. This call for regulation was framed as a means to uphold justice and ensure that technological advancements do not exacerbate existing inequalities.
The current warning regarding the “disarming” of AI appears to build upon these earlier directives, though the source material does not specify the exact nature of this call. It remains unclear whether the term refers to a ban on the development of specific autonomous weapons, a halt to their deployment, or a broader regulatory framework. What is evident, however, is the continued insistence that the trajectory of AI in military applications requires strict human governance to prevent systems from operating outside of meaningful human control.
