Pope Leo XIV says AI systems should be “disarmed,” adding that humans “have the responsibility to guide, change and, when necessary, reject its applications.” In Friday’s Papal Address, Pope Leo encourages United Nations member states to “take concrete steps toward banning lethal autonomous weapons” during their meeting in Geneva next month.

The address reflects many of the ideas Pope Leo laid out in his first major papal document in May, which highlighted “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.” In line with his encyclical, Pope Leo tells participants that “Machines are tools, not persons,” and warns about the dangers of granting AI systems rights or legal personhood. “Decisions affecting human life, freedom, and the use of force must always remain subject to effective, informed, and responsible human oversight,” Pope Leo says.

In 2024, Pope Francis similarly called for a ban on autonomous weapons, saying, “No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being.” AI has become a popular topic for Pope Leo, who suggests he chose his name because he must confront advances in the technology — similar to how Pope Leo XIII presided over the church at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution.

Pope Leo closes out his address by calling for international institutions to safeguard the common good from AI-related risks, along with “shared standards, independent oversight and clear mechanisms of accountability so that decisions concerning the development and use of AI can be examined, challenged when necessary, and accompanied by appropriate remedies for any harm caused.”

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    “But AI doesn’t kill people, people do…”

    So charge those people with war crimes!

    We can’t do that, it was the AI’s fault!

  • Jomega@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    Comment section seems a bit “euphoric” today. Lemmy, your reddit is showing.

  • EloySg@lemmy.zip
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    19 hours ago

    Im not Happy about using AI for war,but that is because war exists, I’d like AI to be FOSS and accesible locally for everyone.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      17 hours ago

      But corporations are people

      That’s another concept that needs to cease to exist.

    • EloySg@lemmy.zip
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      19 hours ago

      They’re juridical entities,akin but not exactly people.

      They still have rights and obligations but they’re not people in the strict sense, you cant incarcerate a corporation.

      • godsammitdam@lemmy.zip
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        18 hours ago

        Unfortunately, even when they, as a group, decide to cause harm and suffering. Cheaper to pay legal fees for death and dismemberment than pay for recalls.

        https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/oct/17/pinto-memo-its-cheaper-let-them-burn/

        Cheaper to pay for less/worse healthcare which leads to more death and bankruptcy…

        Cheaper to eliminate roles and replace them with contract positions which don’t have benefits leading to the same as above…

        Almost like they can’t be held accountable.

        And then if it’s attempted, they can just defer the judgements which harms the victims more…

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNo8Ve-Ej6U

        Must be nice to be a person when it suits you and not a person when it suits you.

  • Gpennyhigh@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    Call the llm it or this, something non-human, “this machine is wrong, check again or give more sources.” Ask them to use Sagan’s baloney detection kit and high levels of perry’s scheme of thinking to examine things, detect unfalsifiable things like the Invisible Dragon story.

  • Mulligrubs@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Oh geez, now he’s making me want to be pro-AI.

    He’s such an idiot, I generally do the exact opposite as the pope. I don’t even molest children.

  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
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    2 days ago

    humans “have the responsibility

    Machines are tools, not persons

    No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being

    I say these are wise words.

    • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today
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      2 days ago

      They will counter with “if we don’t use them, we’ll be leaving ourselves open to enemies who will.” Setting aside the inevitable “you are the enemy” argument/retort, there is some valid logic to this. IMHO, the end result should be laws - with significant teeth and provisions that make them as impervious to politics as possible - that hold the designers and users of such weapons accountable for the “choices” such weapons make. Yeah, we need to prepare for the worst, but acknowledge that “worst” can be from both external and internal forces.

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        I mean sure, but rogue AI weapons are just as likely to kill us all as they are to help us. Not everything humans do needs to be about war. Besides, we can already send a cruise missile halfway around the world. How much more lethal do we need to get? Spy satellites all over the place (and even space weapons now, which i thought we all agreed not to do). Shits getting scary. Eventually we’ll wipe ourselves put with these silly games we play, if climate change doesn’t do it first for us, which is a whole other can of worms.

      • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        They will counter with “if we don’t use them, we’ll be leaving ourselves open to enemies who will.”

        Stupid.

        That argument “works” only if you have already distanced yourself from all sane and sensible principles, like the ones I have quoted.

        Or, in “Star Wars” words: if you belong to the dark side :)

        • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today
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          2 days ago

          Thanks for reiterating the “you are the enemy” part I explicitly set aside. Those people never had “sane and sensible principles” to distance themselves from, which is why I’m being pragmatic in the fact it’s going to happen whether we like it or not. My suggested approach - considering about half the human population suffers from conservative “principles” - is to at least try to force them to be as cautious about their approach as possible.

    • dusk@piefed.social
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      2 days ago

      hypocritical words coming from the catholic church, most famous for pedophilia, wealth hoarding, and war.