Pope Leo XIV says the AI doomsayers aren't crying wolf.
Speaking to reporters on his flight back to Rome after a four-day trip to France, the pope said AI safety warnings are not "fake news" and that the world should take the concerns of AI experts seriously. He added that he isn't in "panic mode" and still sleeps fine at night. He also took aim at Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang by name, though what exactly he said about Huang wasn't detailed in the reporting on the exchange.
It's a notable intervention. Religious leaders rarely wade into the specifics of AI safety debates, let alone call out a named tech executive. Pope Leo's remarks put him closer to the camp of researchers and former industry insiders who've warned about AI risk, and further from the ship-first posture common among chipmakers and model labs racing to scale.
Whether a papal aside moves the needle on AI policy is another question. But it adds a high-profile voice to a debate that has mostly played out between Silicon Valley executives and the researchers they employ.