Vatican warns AI could lead to 'social control'

The Vatican on Wednesday warned artificial intelligence could lead to "social control" and "manipulation" and called for more focus on human relationships to counter the dehumanising effects of digital technology.

In a wide-ranging document with the Latin title "Quo Vadis, Humanitas?" (Whither Humanity?), the Vatican's International Theology Commission said humanity was faced with "never before imagined risks" from tech.

"Today we are witnessing a loss of the sense of history and a reduction of experience to the fleeting moment," the document said.


"Digital culture tends to... transform the living culture of memory and hope into a postmodern culture of a present closed in on itself."

It said AI was creating a "hyper-connected" world with "an increasing acceleration of economic, political, social, and military dynamics that risk becoming uncontrollable and therefore ungovernable".

"In such a world, human action itself becomes material to be analysed and shaped according to power or market goals that are not always transparent. Social control increases, as does the risk of manipulation," it said.

It said relationships, particularly within families, were "a barrier against the spread of a homogenising globalisation, which does not always help to shape authentic bonds".

The document was approved by Pope Leo XIV, who has repeatedly warned about the risks of generative artificial intelligence.

In a message marking the World Day of Social Communications in January, Pope Leo said AI systems reflect the worldview of their creators and can reproduce biases.

He has also condemned the use of AI by the military, warning against delegating life-and-death decisions to machines.

The Vatican's warnings come as generative AI makes leaps and bounds towards replicating, altering and manufacturing images, music and text to levels sometimes indistinguishable from human-made works.