"Systems that issue statistical probabilities as knowledge actually provide us with approaches to the truth at best, which are sometimes veritable 'hallucinations'," Leo writes in his message on the Day of Social Communications, published on Saturday.
Media and communications companies should not allow algorithms that have been fighting for a few seconds of attention at all costs to supplant journalistic values such as the search for truth, according to the pope.
Breeding ground for suspicion
As problems, he cites a lack of review of sources and information also through the crisis of journalism on the ground. All this creates a breeding ground for disinformation and "a growing sense of suspicion, disorientation and uncertainty."
Furthermore, Leo XIV demands that content generated or manipulated by AI should be clearly marked and clearly distinguished from man-made content. The work of journalists, authors and other creatives should be protected by copyright.
In the text entitled "Custodire voci e volti umani" (protecting the faces and voices of man), Leo refers to chatbots and ever-growing possibilities of AI to imitate voices, faces, gestures and facial expressions and even to fake human emotions.
Today, it takes a "digital literacy" to understand "how algorithms shape our perception of reality, how AI distortions work, what mechanisms determine the appearance of certain content in our information feeds, and what assumptions and economic models of the AI economy are based on and how they can change," Leo XIV summarizes.
This is the only way to prevent AI from being misused for harmful content and behaviors such as digital fraud, cyberbullying and deepfakes that violate people’s privacy and intimacy without their consent.
AI as a threat to artists
The Pope also warns that in recent years, AI systems have increasingly taken over the production of texts, music and videos.
"A large part of the human creative industries are therefore in danger of being broken down and replaced by the label "controlled by AI", which makes people unreflected to be just passive consumers of unreflected thoughts, anonymous, unauthorized and unloved products," the head of the church said.
Giving up the creative process and leaving machines to one’s own mental abilities and imagination means burying the talents given to people to grow in relationship with God and fellow human beings. "It means hiding our face and silencing our voice," saysLeo XIV.