Vatican Urges Strict Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in War
Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas* calls for strict regulation of AI in warfare, warning that lethal decisions must remain under human control and condemning autonomous weapons systems as a threat to human dignity. The Vatican’s stance aligns with global interfaith efforts and upcoming UN discussions on potential treaties to ban or regulate killer robots, with 130 states already supporting such measures.
Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, *Magnifica Humanitas*, on May 25, urging global regulation of artificial intelligence in warfare to prevent the use of autonomous weapons systems, or 'killer robots.' The Vatican stated that lethal decisions cannot be delegated to automated processes, emphasizing that human control must remain central to military actions. The encyclical builds on Pope Francis’s 2024 warnings about the existential risks of autonomous weapons, which he described as a violation of human dignity. Both popes argue that allowing algorithms to determine life-and-death outcomes removes moral accountability from military and political leaders. The Vatican’s call aligns with a 2023 interfaith statement from Christian, Buddhist, and Muslim groups demanding urgent action against killer robots. The Stop Killer Robots campaign, co-founded by Human Rights Watch in 2013, has long advocated for a legally binding treaty to prohibit or regulate autonomous weapons. Pope Leo’s appeal now emphasizes ethical oversight at every stage, from development to deployment, to ensure AI in warfare respects human dignity. In June, the United Nations will convene its first discussions on AI in militaries, with further negotiations planned in Geneva in November to explore a treaty. Currently, 130 states support binding regulations, though some remain undecided. The Vatican’s intervention underscores the urgency of addressing unchecked AI advancements before algorithms gain unsupervised control over lethal decisions.
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