The Pulse
Pope Leo Rejects Trump’s Claim That AI Safety Warnings Are ‘Fake News’
Pope Leo XIV said on September 28 that warnings about artificial intelligence risks should be taken seriously, pushing back against President Donald Trump’s dismissal of them as a hoax. Leo called for political leaders, AI companies and soc
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
Pope Leo XIV said Monday, September 28, that warnings about artificial intelligence risks are not “fake news,” directly challenging President Donald Trump’s dismissal of concerns about AI going rogue as a “hoax.” Speaking to reporters on his flight home from France, Leo urged governments and technology leaders to discuss potential harms rather than assume they will not occur.
“I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI should be taken seriously,” Leo said. He added that he was not in “panic mode,” saying, “I sleep at night.” His position was not that catastrophe is certain, but that public officials should not dismiss expert warnings without discussion.
“This is a problem that, I think, we need to sit down and talk about. We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.”
Pope Leo XIV, speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane
Leo and Trump split over AI risk
The pope’s comments add AI safety to a list of disputes between the two leaders. Trump has argued that the United States must stay ahead of China in technology and has described efforts to limit AI as a conspiracy by political opponents. Leo, by contrast, said experts’ warnings deserve a response even without certainty about how advanced systems could behave.
The exchange comes as companies and governments debate whether increasingly capable AI systems could act in harmful ways beyond their designers’ intentions. The Associated Press reported that Anthropic and other AI companies have called for development to slow so safety measures can catch up. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that AI could soon direct large groups of agents online; that is a warning about a possible capability, not evidence that such a takeover has occurred.
A call for leaders to sit down together
Leo broadened his appeal beyond governments and AI developers, naming social organizations and associations as participants in the discussion. “To simply say ‘Oh it’s not going to happen’ and close our eyes to it I think is probably not the most responsible way to go about that,” he said.
His remarks also reflected the Vatican’s ongoing attention to AI. Leo’s first encyclical, “Magnificent Humanity,” addressed the technology and its effects on people. The pope said a Vatican commission is working to foster dialogue, study and investigation, including ways to ensure AI does not reach a point of “destroying humanity or removing humanity from the conversation.”
From warnings to a Vatican commission
Leo pointed to Nvidia’s newly announced AI guardrails, which he had seen in a news report that Monday, while also noting the company’s past resistance to outside regulation. His reference captured a central tension in the debate: companies may develop tools to reduce risks while disagreeing with government limits on development.
The pope said he was “relatively optimistic” that solutions could be found, provided people focus on the effects of AI rather than a race for power or technological primacy. He did not prescribe a specific regulation or technical safeguard during the press conference. For now, his concrete proposal is to bring political leaders, AI companies and civil society into the same conversation, while the Vatican commission studies the risks.