--- title: "The Pope Doubles Down on AI Concerns" description: "Pope Francis is making his AI concerns clear once again, using this year's World Peace Day to issue a call for AI caution and responsibility." date: "2023-08-08" modified: "2023-08-08" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/pope-ai-concerns" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai ethics" - "ai regulation" - "the digest" --- # The Pope Doubles Down on AI Concerns ![Vatican Pool via Getty / Futurism]() ## Silicon Vatican Pope Francis has AI on the mind. Just weeks after the release of the Vatican's official [guide to AI ethics]() — a surprising project developed in collaboration with the very secular folks over at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics — Pope Francis is making his AI concerns clear once again, using this year's World Peace Day to issue a call for AI responsibility and caution. "The remarkable advances made in the field of artificial intelligence," [proclaims]() the official Vatican bulletin, "are having a rapidly increasing impact on human activity, personal and social life, politics and the economy," adding that "Pope Francis calls for an open dialogue on the meaning of these new technologies, endowed with disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects." Asking for an open dialogue about the breadth of AI's potential impacts, good, bad, and complicated?? You and us both, buddy. ## Pope Drip Of course, the Supreme Pontiff isn't the only world leader who's worried about AI's implications. He *is* the only world leader, however, to have had a hyperrealistic, AI-generated photo of himself in [streetwear drip]() go hugely viral, to the point that a massive chunk of the internet firmly believed that it was real. Some [experts]() saw the event as a wake-up call to the potential impacts of AI-generated imagery and deepfakes, and if we were a betting crowd, we'd wager that the virality of the picture had a significant influence on the (real) Pope, too. ## Pie in the Sky The World Peace Day message also touched on elements of technological discrimination, arguing, among other things, that preventing "a logic of violence and discrimination" from infiltrating AI production is essential. And as the message was mostly just a broad call to AI responsibility and ethics, it's hard to disagree with, well, any of it. That said, though the message is chock full of agreeable sentiments, it bears reminding everyone, here that humanity has yet to figure out a roadmap capable of achieving these loftier, values-driven AI goals. Not that we necessarily expect the Pontiff, who heads one of the world's most archaic institutions (and is also on record claiming he [doesn't know how to work a computer]()) to do that work, of course. But: As a general note, keeping the collective focus on actionable steps — like, say, the [US government]() writing any [meaningful AI regulation]() into law — is probably our best bet for ensuring AI responsibility in the near term. **More on the Pope's AI thoughts:** [*The Pope Just Released a Guide to Artificial Intelligence*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()