During his first day in France, Pope Leo XIV placed artificial intelligence at the heart of a speech delivered at the Élysée in front of Emmanuel Macron. He warned of the risk that a society seduced by the promises of machines sacrifices human autonomy, the diversity of consciences, and the capacity for discernment. From the concentration of technological power to the protection of young people, his intervention calls for framing this transformation through ethical reflection and collective governance.
At the Élysée, a warning about the place of the human
Having arrived in France a few hours earlier, Leo XIV dedicated part of his visit to a question that now pervades political, economic, and social debates: what place should be given to artificial intelligence in human societies? Before the President of the Republic, the pontiff warned against a future where the abundance of technologies would make us forget what distinguishes and protects the individual.
His intervention did not only concern the performance of digital tools. The pope rather questioned the societal choices that accompany their development: who designs them, who controls them, and for what purposes are they used? He urged not to let machines define collective priorities alone, nor to reduce individuals to data, profiles, or calculated results.
For Leo XIV, the risk is to take for unlimited progress a technological universe that would promise comfort, speed, and efficiency, but could also shape behaviors and decisions. He thus emphasized the necessity of placing the human person at the center of any reflection devoted to AI.
Discernment in the face of the “paradise of machines”
The pope borrowed a phrase associated with writer Georges Bernanos to express his fear of a world where the growing presence of machines would end up altering humanity. This warning particularly targets a culture of efficiency that risks prioritizing speed and profitability over freedom, responsibility, and personal judgment.
Faced with systems capable of producing texts, recommending content, or automating tasks, ethical discernment becomes, according to him, a necessity. It is not about rejecting all innovation, but about developing the knowledge and benchmarks needed to evaluate its effects. The question also is whether individuals retain the ability to understand tools, contest their decisions, and choose how they intervene in their lives.
This concern aligns with the questions raised by the rapid adoption of these technologies. In France, interest in artificial intelligence services has reached a significant part of the population, with particularly marked usage among the youth, as reported in this article about the exploration of AI services by the French. This diffusion strengthens the challenge of education: using these tools also assumes understanding their limits and consequences.
Preserving freedom and diversity of consciences
Leo XIV defended the idea that a free society must not seek to homogenize thoughts. On the contrary, it must preserve the diversity of consciences, encourage dialogue, and prevent powerful technologies from becoming instruments of control. This vigilance concerns both their design and their deployment in institutions, businesses, and everyday services.
Algorithmic systems can influence the information each person accesses, the choices presented to them, and the decisions made about them. Hence, their functioning does not constitute an exclusively technical matter. The rules that frame them, the transparency of their uses, and the possibility of holding their leaders accountable also pertain to democratic choices.
Cultural life also illustrates the diversity of possible uses. Artificial intelligence can become a tool for creation or collaboration, while raising questions about the place of artists and the very nature of the work. The film Oedipus, King of IA, produced with the participation of artificial intelligence, provides a concrete example of these new forms of production.
A transformation that goes beyond mere technical innovation
The pope’s reflection is part of an older tradition of the Church’s social doctrine. His papal name evokes Leo XIII, author at the end of the 19th century of a major text dedicated to the upheavals of labor and capital during the industrial revolution. According to François Mabille, director of the Geopolitical Observatory of Religion, Leo XIV views AI as a profound transformation, comparable in magnitude to the changes brought about by industrialization.
From this perspective, artificial intelligence cannot be treated as a mere commercial novelty. It transforms professional activities, the flow of information, and power relations. The productivity gains it promises raise a central question: who will benefit from the wealth created, and who will have the power to decide its use?
The announced investments in this field reinforce this inquiry. Paolo Benanti, advisor to the Vatican on artificial intelligence issues, mentioned considerable amounts being engaged by the largest technology companies. Such concentration of financial resources and computing capacities can amplify the influence of a limited number of actors, while states and citizens struggle to weigh in on the directions taken.
Concentration of power and international governance
The mastery of data, digital infrastructures, and computing power represents a strategic issue. If these resources are held by a few companies or governments, they can exert a decisive influence on the development of tools and the conditions of their access. The Vatican is particularly concerned about the military applications of AI as well as the possibilities for mass surveillance that it could facilitate.
Leo XIV advocates that ethical debates should not remain mere statements of principle. The Vatican has established an interdisciplinary commission tasked with working on its positions regarding artificial intelligence. This approach complements discussions held with academics and leaders from the technology sector, aiming to anticipate the social and political consequences of these systems.
Paolo Benanti also mentioned the possibility of creating an international court for artificial intelligence. This proposal reflects the difficulty of regulating technologies that cross borders and whose decisions can affect populations far removed from their creators. It also raises the question of mechanisms capable of ensuring shared responsibility and limiting abusive practices.
Protecting children and supporting learning
During his visit, the pope went to UNESCO, where he emphasized the protection of children and young people. Digital tools, according to him, must support their development and education without diminishing their freedom to think. Their vulnerability should not justify their exploitation, whether through excessive data collection, exposure to inappropriate content, or dependence on digital services.
The question of learning is particularly sensitive. Automated assistants can help to search for information or complete certain exercises, but their use should not erase the effort of understanding, curiosity, and the ability to verify answers. Questions thus arise about the future place of knowledge and the risk that human learning could be relegated behind tools that provide immediate results, as discussed in this reflection on the future of human learning in the age of AI.
UNESCO’s Director-General, Khaled el-Enany, for his part, presented the organization as a place for reflection on the rules allowing societies to understand and master artificial intelligence. He advocated for accessible and equitable technology, intended to serve populations rather than replace human intelligence, which it must respect the primacy of.
Placing the human at the center of technological choices
The pope’s warnings are part of a broader debate about the relationship between humans and machines. AI can improve certain activities and open up new uses, but it can also fuel the fear of replacement, blur responsibilities, or make individuals dependent on opaque systems. This topic is at the center of episode 90 of Minutes Artificial Intelligence, dedicated to the human facing the threat of replacement.
This reflection also concerns how societies value time, work, and efficiency. In another register, the article on agriculture and the celebration of slowness explores an approach that calls for not measuring progress solely by the speed of production. It resonates with the critique of a model where technical acceleration could become an end in itself.
By calling for ethical discernment, the protection of freedoms, and a broader governance, Leo XIV seeks to make it recognized that artificial intelligence engages collective choices. The question is not only to know what machines can accomplish but also to determine the limits that societies wish to impose on them and the rights they want to preserve in light of their development.
