Pope Francis speaks out against use of AI weapons at G7

“Faced with the marvels of machines, which seem to know how to choose independently, we should be very clear that decision-making, even when we are confronted with its sometimes dramatic and urgent aspects, must always be left to the human person,” Francis said.

“We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines,” he continued.

“We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: human dignity itself depends on it,” the pontiff added.

He specifically urged the G7 leaders to ban the use of lethal autonomous weapons, arguing that “no machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being.”

“In order for them to be instruments for building up the good and a better tomorrow, they must always be aimed at the good of every human being,” he said.

“It is up to everyone to make good use of [AI], but the onus is on politics to create the conditions for such good use to be possible and fruitful,” Francis said.