The Pope Calls for More Attention to the Ethics of AI

Does AI technology have a problem with ethics? There are a few ways to approach this question, but let’s go with the most unsettling: the growing number of news articles suggesting that AI chatbots have encouraged people to end their lives. These stories are heartbreaking in and of themselves, but they’re also unsettling for another reason: there are multiple instances of this happening.

Given the ethical implications of this, you might not be surprised to see religious leaders weighing in on the subject. And this week, Pope Leo XIV did precisely that, turning to the Vatican’s official X account to raise some important moral questions.

“Technological innovation can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation. It carries an ethical and spiritual weight, for every design choice expresses a vision of humanity,” Pope Leo XIV wrote. “The Church therefore calls all builders of #AI to cultivate moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work — to develop systems that reflect justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life.”

The Pope’s post was followed by another one focusing on related issues — and while the two were not threaded together, it isn’t hard to see a connection between the two. The second post began with Pope Leo XIV declaring, “The world needs honest and courageous entrepreneurs and communicators who care for the common good.” From there, the Pope asking entrepreneurs to be aware of how they might be “making the world a better place.”

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As Lauren Edmonds writes at Business Insider, this is not the first time Pope Leo XIV has brought up the challenges of AI since being elected Pope earlier this year. Pope Leo XIV is also not the only global religious leader reckoning with the intellectual and moral challenges posed by this technology. In October, the Dalai Lama hosted over 100 thinkers at his official residence for an extended dialogue about AI. It’s a hotly debated issue among both sacred and secular thinkers — but it remains to be seen what the issues raised by these leaders will lead to.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…