AI and its consequences for society concerns many people, including Pope Leo XIV.
The first-ever American Pope addressed AI leaders in Post X on Friday, about a week after he wrote a message to participants at the Builders AI Forum 2025. The forum is dedicated to developing a community that supports the development of AI products that are consistent with the mission of the Catholic Church.
“Technological innovation can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation. They carry ethical and spiritual weight, since every design choice expresses a vision of humanity,” Pope Leo XIV wrote of X. “The Church therefore calls on all builders of #AI to develop moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work—to design systems that reflect justice, solidarity and a genuine reverence for life.”
In his address to the Builders AI Forum 2025, Pope Leo XIV said their work cannot be “confined to research laboratories or investment portfolios.”
“This must be a deeply ecclesiastical undertaking. Whether it is developing algorithms for Catholic education, tools for compassionate healthcare, or creative platforms that tell the Christian story truthfully and beautifully, each participant contributes to the common mission: to put technology at the service of evangelization and the holistic development of every person,” the Pope wrote.
Pope Leo's remarks come as companies around the world race to develop age-detection technology. Big Tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Meta are investing heavily in artificial intelligence, and startups like anthropic And OpenAI leading the way with products like Claude and ChatGPT.
Technology is already transforming society. However, some are concerned that in their quest to be the first to change the world, tech companies are abandoning security protocols that could cause serious harm to jobs, the economy and even humanity as a whole.
Since becoming head of the Catholic Church in May, Pope Leo XIV has not shied away from discussing AI. Addressing College of Cardinals that same month, he said AI poses new challenges to “human dignity” and “justice.”
“Today, the Church offers everyone a treasure trove of its social teaching in response to the next industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence, which pose new challenges for the protection of human dignity, justice and work,” he said.
