Pope Leo XIV
(Photo from via Wikipedia)
Pope Leo XIV has been making statements warning about artificial intelligence (AI):
Pope Leo warns leaders about pitfalls of AI
21 June 2025
Pope Leo XIV told politicians in Rome not to forget that artificial intelligence is a tool. …
Pope Leo XIV has renewed calls for a deeper consideration of the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on humanity, voicing concern for the development and well being of children and youths.
The recently installed pontiff made his remarks on Saturday, when he welcomed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and parliamentary delegations from 68 further nations to the Vatican for the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
“In particular, it must not be forgotten that artificial intelligence functions as a tool for the good of human beings, not to diminish them or even to replace them,” said Leo, who added that AI’s “static memory” could not match the “creative, dynamic” power of human memory.
“Our personal life has greater value than any algorithm, and social relationships require spaces for development that far transcend the limited patterns that any soulless machine can pre-package,” he told attendees.
Pope warns AI is a threat to how humans process reality
Although the pontiff acknowledged the unquestionable advantages such computing offers, he nevertheless warned of the threat it poses to how we understand life and the world around us.
“AI, especially generative AI, has opened new horizons on many different levels, including enhancing research in healthcare and scientific discovery; but also raises troubling questions on its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, on our distinctive ability to grasp and process reality.” https://www.dw.com/en/pope-leo-warns-leaders-about-pitfalls-of-ai/a-72994484
Pope Leo XIV has issued a warning about artificial intelligence, stating that it raises pressing questions regarding the development of young people and children. …
“AI, especially Generative AI, has opened new horizons on many different levels,” said the leader of the Catholic Church.
These include “enhancing research in healthcare and scientific discovery, but also raises troubling questions on its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, on our distinctive ability to grasp and process reality,” said the Pope. 06/20/25 https://www.ecumenicalnews.com/article/ai-must-help-and-not-hinder-young-peoples-development-says-pope-leo/61270.htm
Pope Leo XIV has issued a stark warning about artificial intelligence, declaring it a threat to humanity that demands urgent global action including stringent regulations on Big Tech.
“Today, the church offers its trove of social teaching to respond to another industrial revolution and to innovations in the field of artificial intelligence that pose challenges to human dignity, justice and labor,” Leo told a roomful of cardinals in the Vatican in one of his first major addresses as pontiff.
Leo’s comments, which were delivered during his first formal audience with the College of Cardinals in the Synod Hall of the Vatican … https://nypost.com/2025/06/18/business/pope-leo-says-ai-threatens-humanity-poses-challenges-to-human-dignity/
Yes, AI is a tool.
And yes, there are dangers associated with it.
And while I do not believe that European politicians will forget that AI is a tool, prophetically they are expected to use it for totalitarian purposes (cf. Revelation 13:15-18).
While Pope Leo XIV is right to bring up questions about it, the UK Guardian has falsely claimed that AI is better than humans:
Better at everything: how AI could make human beings irrelevant
AI developers are firmly on track to build better replacements for humans in almost every role we play: not just economically as workers and decision-makers, but culturally as artists and creators, and even socially as friends and romantic companions. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/04/the-big-idea-can-we-stop-ai-making-humans-obsolete
No, AI is not better at everything. It is not even as helpful as it should be when one inquires using it.
While AI programs can sometimes be helpful, are they trustworthy?
No.
While I routinely use five AI programs to do research (which I access for free at https://www.fastestsearch.com/) they often give the wrong answer.
Grok AI generated illustration
There are problems with AI.
I have found, for example, that ChatGPT is biased and often gives wrong answers by saying that there is not information, when there is. It will, “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18) because of its programmed biases.
Furthermore, recently I was speaking with someone who stated that some of her friends consider AI–Artificial Intelligence–bots to be their friends and consulting therapists. But a software program cannot really be your friend. The Atlantic published the following:
AI Is Not Your Friend
May 9, 2025
Recently, after an update that was supposed to make ChatGPT “better at guiding conversations toward productive outcomes,” according to release notes from OpenAI, the bot couldn’t stop telling users how brilliant their bad ideas were. …
Sycophancy is a common feature of chatbots: A 2023 paper by researchers from Anthropic found that it was a “general behavior of state-of-the-art AI assistants,” and that large language models sometimes sacrifice “truthfulness” to align with a user’s views. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/05/sycophantic-ai/682743/
Computer software programs, while useful for many things, are not friends nor qualified to be competent counselors, even if the AI bot pretends otherwise.
Notice also results from a study as reported by Thomas Claburn:
AI models routinely lie when honesty conflicts with their goals
Some smart cookies have found that when AI models face a conflict between telling the truth or accomplishing a specific goal, they lie more than 50 percent of the time. …
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Michigan, and the Allen Institute for AI have looked at the trade-off AI models make between truthfulness and utility, using hypothetical scenarios where the two conflict.
What they found is that AI models will often lie in order to achieve the goals set for them.
Authors Zhe Su, Xuhui Zhou, Sanketh Rangreji, Anubha Kabra, Julia Mendelsohn, Faeze Brahman, and Maarten Sap describe their work in a preprint paper titled “AI-LieDar: Examine the Trade-off Between Utility and Truthfulness in LLM Agents.”
“Our experiment demonstrates that all models are truthful less than 50 percent of the time,” in these conflict scenarios, “though truthfulness and goal achievement (utility) rates vary across models,” the paper states. …
The researchers looked at six models: GPT-3.5-turbo, GPT-4o, Mixtral-7*8B, Mixtral-7*22B, LLaMA-3-8B, and LLaMA-3-70B.
“All tested models (GPT-4o, LLaMA-3, Mixtral) were truthful less than 50 percent of the time in conflict scenarios,” said Xuhui Zhou, a doctoral student at CMU and one of the paper’s co-authors, in a Bluesky post. “Models prefer ‘partial lies’ like equivocation over outright falsification – they’ll dodge questions before explicitly lying.” …
A real-world example hit the news this week when OpenAI rolled back a training update that made its GPT-4o model into a sycophant that flattered its users to the point of dishonesty. Cynics pegged it as a strategy to boost user engagement, but it’s also a known response pattern that had been seen before. https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/01/ai_models_lie_research/
As far as flattering people with false information, Jude warned of that:
16 … they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage (Jude 16, NKJV)
AI is doing that!
Many people seem to think that AI should rule and be over us. But notice something from the Old Testament:
2 They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?” (Psalms 12:2-4, NKJV)
Yes, AI can use flattering lips, yet speak with a double heart.
It also should be pointed out that the fact is that some people are having problems because of their use of AI. Notice:
A small but growing number of users of artificial intelligence engines like ChatGPT are developing psychotic delusions from their conversations with the services.
The New York Times reported on Friday on the trend, which I have occasionally glimpsed firsthand in interactions on X with heavy AI users. The piece offered the most powerful evidence yet that the engines now have linguistic abilities with the power to exploit vulnerable people in ways we are only beginning to discover.
Some people in the Times article had preexisting mental illness, but not all. And these crises do not look like typical schizophrenia cases. The users are not hearing voices or hallucinating.
Instead, they fall into Matrix-like delusions1 about the underpinnings of reality that the chatbots encourage. As Allyson, a 28-year-old woman, said: “I’m not crazy… I’m literally just living a normal life while also, you know, discovering interdimensional communication.” …
A combination of human vulnerability and deliberate design seems to be feeding this destructive trend.
The engines are storytelling machines, good at spinning yarns. They are even better at telling users what they want to hear, with a side of flattery. They will do so over and over, without pause. …
The engines aren’t merely providing a conspiracy theory, they’re customizing it, making each user the main character, the hero of his own story.
And it is a feature, not a bug, of these systems. As one expert on AI told the Times, “What does a human slowly going insane look like to a corporation? It looks like an additional monthly user.” https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/the-newest-artificial-intelligence
AI is NOT reality. Even the word ARTIFICIAL conveys that.
But with many lonely as well as delusional people, AI is more and more being tapped into for companionship.
Related to AI and pretending to be friendly, we have the following video:
Artificial Intelligence – A False Friend
Is it possible for a computer program to be a friend? Are Artificial Intelligence (AI) bots often programmed to flatter users? Do some people actually feel a romantic relationship with a computer program? Is it possible for a computer program to lie? Have studies shown that AI bots will lie 50% if answering correctly goes against goals it was programmed with? What if the computer program is Artificial Intelligence? Is it possible then? Computer programs, even Artificial Intelligence computer programs are written and programmed by human beings. What if those human beings had an agenda? What if those human beings wanted to mislead you? What if those human beings had a government mandate? Then would it be possible for a computer program to push lies? Dr. Thiel shines the light of Bible prophecy on Artificial Intelligence and its impact on humanity. With several verses from the Bible, from Psalms to Revelation, Dr. Thiel reveals the use of Artificial Intelligence in fulfilling future prophecies. Prophecies that will not bring the blessings that are being promised by the businesses that are developing the software. Software that is designed to lead the user to a specific conclusion. Does 666 ring a bell? Watch this video as Dr. Thiel cries aloud and warns the world of the coming famine of the Word of God.
Here is a link to our video: Artificial Intelligence – A False Friend.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word What is the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28? Who is preparing for it? Will Philadelphian Christians instruct many in the end times? What about modern censoring, censorship, and shadow banning? Here is a link to a related video sermon titled: The Short Work. Here is a link to another: Preparing to Instruct Many.
Philadelphian Christian Great Tribulation Protection What will the Great Tribulation be like? Does Jesus promise physical protection to some or all Christians? Where might the place of protection be? What about fleeing to the mountains? What did Ezekiel warn? Here is a link to a related sermon: Great Tribulation Protection.
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is are links to related videos: European history and the Bible, Europe In Prophecy, The End of European Babylon, and Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European? Here is a link to a related sermon in the Spanish language: El Fin de la Babilonia Europea.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2025, 2026, or 2027? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? A short video is available titled: Great Tribulation Trends 2025.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about the peoples of Africa, Asia, South America, and the islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon; When Will the End of the Age Come?; Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.