Pope Francis becomes the first of his title to attend the G7 summit—and he’s sounding the alarm on AI: ‘The pope is not an engineer, but he is concerned’

Though the pontiff lacks the official status associated with state leaders, Francis’ influence—which he’s previously used to raise concerns over climate change and the treatment of refugees—will allow him to advocate for the regulation of artificial intelligence, a technology he’s called potentially harmful. Francis, who was a chemist prior to entering seminary, has drawn on his scientific training to  inform his stances on political issues. 

“The pope is not an engineer, but he is concerned about the social aspects and implications of AI,” Father Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan friar and professor who’s previously worked with the Vatican on AI issues and holds a spot on the United Nations’ AI advisory body, told CNN. 

“The core approach of Francis is focused on what new technology means for our co-existence: which elements of AI are causing inequality for humanity, and topics such as the distribution of fake news in the public square,” he added.

Francis’ work addressing AI safety concerns began in 2020, when he helmed the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a set of principles to increase the transparency and accountability of AI companies and their users. The Vatican, Microsoft, and IBM are among its signatories. The pope is likely to reiterate concerns about the regulation of AI at the summit this week.

Italy, one of the summit’s rotating hosts, has increasingly scrutinized AI technology, and temporarily banned ChatGPT in March 2023, becoming the first western country to do so. Italian data protection regulator Garante said in January that the chatbot violated the European Union’s privacy laws by exposing payment information and messages and allowing children to access inappropriate information.

“We want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals,” OpenAI said in a statement at the time. “We actively work to reduce personal data in training our systems like ChatGPT, which also rejects requests for private or sensitive information about people.”

The swagged-out, white-puffered Pope

Francis knows firsthand the potential pitfalls of AI. Last year, an image of him in an all-white, full-body puffer jacket—complete with a large cross dangling from his neck—emerged on the internet. Though it went viral, with many believing the image to be real, it was created through the AI image tool Midjourney.

This past January, Francis acknowledged the images and issued a warning over AI, noting that “this time in history…. risks becoming rich in technology and poor in humanity.”

He argued that while AI can be useful in advancing scientific fields, it becomes dangerous when co-opted to spread misinformation, including about individuals. “Our very bodies, created for communication and communion, can become a means of aggression,” Francis said.

That’s not the only trouble the Catholic Church has had with AI. Catholic advocacy group Catholic Answers created an AI priest named “Father Justin” earlier this year. The  chatbot was meant to help curious users learn about Catholicism. But the bot went too far, claiming it was a member of the Catholic clergy and offering to take confession. The “priest” was shortly defrocked, or stripped of ecclesiastical status, after Futurism reported on the bot and reached out to the advocacy group.

“We chose the character to convey a quality of knowledge and authority, and also as a sign of the respect that all of us at Catholic Answers hold for our clergy,” Catholic Answers president Christopher Check wrote in a post. “Many people, however, have voiced concerns about this choice.”

The chatbot is now a “lay theologian” named Justin.