Pope Leo XIV urges states to “disarm” AI and move toward banning lethal autonomous weapons at Geneva talks

Pope Leo XIV told participants in “The Future of AI: A Dialogue Between the Vatican and the Scientific World” at the Apostolic Palace on October 30 that artificial intelligence must be “disarmed”. Machines are instruments, not persons, he said; when a person ends up on a target list or in a border-control database, there is a risk of reducing them to a mere data point. Decisions affecting human life, freedom and the use of force must always remain subject to effective, informed and responsible human control.

Five points: responsibility, oversight and a route to challenge decisions

The address set out five considerations, each grounded in the Pope's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, signed on May 15, 2026. Beyond the weapons ban, Leo XIV rejected granting AI systems legal personhood, arguing it would obscure real human responsibility, and called for shared international standards, independent oversight bodies, and clear routes for people harmed by AI decisions to challenge them and seek remedies. The meeting was jointly organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Future of Life Institute.

The audience: states meeting in Geneva in November

The Pope directed his appeal at the states meeting in Geneva in November, encouraging them to take concrete steps toward prohibiting lethal autonomous weapons — systems that can select and strike a target without a human deciding on the individual attack. The address is a moral and policy appeal, not law in itself; whether it shapes negotiating text depends on what state delegations do in Geneva. Leo XIV also recalled Pope Francis's 2024 message to G7 leaders that no machine should decide whether to take a human life.