Pope Leo XIV says AI safety concerns are not fake news and must be treated seriously

(Seoul/London = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim A-ram Correspondent Kim Ji-yeon = Pope Leo

According to the Associated Press, at a press conference held on the 28th (local time) on a private plane returning from a trip to France, the Pope was asked what the United States and China in particular should do to prevent the devastating threat that AI will pose to humanity.

Pope Leo

Regarding the AI ​​issue, the Pope said, "If someone were to ask me if I was 'panicked' right now, I would say no and I am sleeping well at night. What I really want to say is that the concerns raised by many AI experts and intellectuals should be taken seriously."

He emphasized, "I do not believe that this is fake news aimed at gaining any benefit, financial or otherwise, as some people claim."

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his dislike for the theory of AI speed control, dismissing concerns that AI could lead to the end of humanity as a 'hoax'.

In a recent TruthSocial post, President Trump reaffirmed his determination to win the competition with China without stopping the pace of America's AI development, saying, "There is a disgusting conspiracy targeting AI and data centers, and the only country that will be happy about it is China."

Previously, the Pope had criticized the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, and had a confrontational stance with President Trump by opposing the war between the United States and Israel against Iran.

The British daily Financial Times (FT) reported that the Pope also criticized Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has expressed a negative stance on slowing down or regulating AI development.

“I read the head of Nvidia claiming that he has found a way to put some ‘guardrails’ in AI,” Pope told reporters. This appears to refer to the fact that NVIDIA announced today a platform that provides control functions throughout the entire process, from the AI ​​agent testing stage to the actual deployment stage.

“But he (Representative Hwang) is the same person who said there should be no restrictions or government regulations,” the Pope said. “These are the issues I think we should sit down and talk about.”

“Political leaders, AI leaders, social groups and associations must come together to keep track of what is already happening and what could happen in the future,” the Pope said. “It is not a responsible attitude to simply close our eyes and say that it will not happen.”

He said he had been receiving input from people who wanted to engage in a broader conversation about AI since publishing the encyclical in May, which called for AI to be "disarmed" so it cannot dominate humans.

The Pope expressed hope that a solution would be found, saying he was "relatively optimistic" that a solution would be found.

“I think there are enough people who are truly interested in this issue and want to look at it, regardless of power or who gets the upper hand,” he said.