He was addressing participants in the Conference “Artificial Intelligence and Care for Our Common Home” on Friday, December 5, 2025.
“The ability to access vast amounts of data and information should not be confused with the ability to derive meaning and value from it,” the Pope explained, adding that “The latter requires a willingness to confront the mystery and core questions of our existence, even when these realities are often marginalized or ridiculed by the prevailing cultural and economic models.”
“The well-being of society,” he continued, depends on young people’s “ability to develop their talents and respond to the demands of the times and the needs of others, with generosity and freedom of mind.”
The conference was organized by the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation and the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU). It is taking place on Friday afternoon to present a report that evaluates the impact of artificial intelligence on the industrial, financial, educational and communications fields.
Development of AI must be collaborative effort
Pope Leo invited his audience to teach young people how to use these new technologies with their own intelligence in order to search for truth and broaden their decision-making. “We support their desire to be different and better, because never before has it been so clear that a profound reversal of direction is needed in our idea of maturing,” the Pope said.
He also highlighted that in order to build a future with young people, it is necessary “to restore and strengthen their confidence in the human ability to guide the development” of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, and not see this development as following “an inevitable path.”
“This requires coordinated and concerted action involving politics, institutions, businesses, finance, education, communication, citizens and religious communities,” he said. “Actors from these areas are called upon to undertake a common commitment by assuming this joint responsibility. This commitment comes before any partisan interest or profit, which is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few.”
The Pope insisted on the need for widespread participation to achieve these goals and thanked those present for their contribution through their research.
Humans are co-workers in the work of creation
Pope Leo underlined how artificial intelligence has brought about rapid and deep changes in society and already impacts millions of people daily, while also affecting certain aspects of the human person, “such as critical thinking, discernment, learning and interpersonal relationships”.
With this in mind, he highlighted certain questions to reflect on when evaluating the impact of these technologies: “How can we ensure that the development of artificial intelligence truly serves the common good, and is not just used to accumulate wealth and power in the hands of a few?”
"As I’m sure you’re aware, the commodity that’s most valuable today on the markets is precisely in the area of artificial intelligence," he explained.
Another question he asked was “What does it mean to be human in this moment of history?”
Pope Leo insisted that, given this context, it is very important to “pause and reflect with particular care upon the freedom and inner life of our children and young people, and the possible impact of technology on their intellectual and neurological development.”
He affirmed that “human beings are called to be co-workers in the work of creation, not merely passive consumers of content generated by artificial technology.”
“Artificial intelligence has certainly opened up new horizons for creativity, but it also raises serious concerns about its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, and capacity for wonder and contemplation,” he said.
“Recognizing and safeguarding what characterizes the human person and guarantees his or her balanced growth,” he emphasized, “is essential for establishing an adequate framework for managing the consequences of artificial intelligence.”