Pope warns of AI risks to young brains

Vatican City: Pope Leo XIV warned on Friday of the potential consequences of artificial intelligence (AI) on the intellectual development of young people, saying it could damage their grip on reality.
Since his election as head of the Catholic Church on May 8, the pope -- a mathematics graduate -- has repeatedly warned of the risks associated with AI but this is the first time he has spoken out exclusively on the subject.
"All of us... are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development," the American pope warned in a written message to participants at the second Rome Conference on AI.
"No generation has ever had such quick access to the amount of information now available through AI.
"But again, access to data -- however extensive -- must not be confused with intelligence," Leo told business leaders, policymakers and researchers attending the annual conference.
While welcoming the use of AI in "enhancing research in healthcare and scientific discovery", the pope said it "raises troubling questions on its possible repercussions" on humanity's "distinctive ability to grasp and process reality".
Pope Leo himself has been the target of deep fake videos and audio messages published on social media in recent weeks.
An AFP investigation earlier this month identified dozens of YouTube and TikTok pages broadcasting AI-generated messages masquerading as genuine comments from the pope in English or Spanish.
A survey from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism this week found significant numbers of young people in particular were using chatbots to get headlines and updates.
The Catholic Church has attempted to influence ethical thinking surrounding the use of new technologies in recent years under Leo's predecessor Francis.
In 2020, the Vatican initiated the Rome Call for AI Ethics -- signed by Microsoft, IBM, the United Nations, Italy and a host of universities -- urging transparency and respect for privacy.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Hans India

15 minutes ago

• Hans India

Israel-Iran War: Trump weighs U.S. strikes as Tehran warns of ‘Dangerous' escalation

As Israel and Iran continued their escalating conflict into its second week, tensions deepened on Friday, June 20, with U.S. President Donald Trump indicating he may authorize airstrikes on Iran — giving Tehran a two-week window to avert potential military action. This comes as diplomatic talks in Geneva between Iranian officials and European ministers ended with no breakthrough. President Trump said any American involvement would target Iran's Fordo nuclear site, a hardened underground facility believed to be accessible only via U.S. 'bunker-buster' munitions. While Trump is holding off on a final decision, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue military operations "for as long as it takes" to neutralize Iran's nuclear and missile threat. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, following the Geneva talks, warned that U.S. intervention would be 'very, very dangerous for everyone.' Tehran, he added, will not resume diplomatic dialogue unless Israel halts its 'aggression.' Meanwhile, on the ground, Israel carried out a second strike on Iran's nuclear site in Isfahan, reportedly inflicting heavy damage to centrifuge infrastructure. In retaliation, drones struck a residential building in northern Israel, though no casualties were reported. Russia weighed in as well, with President Vladimir Putin stating there's no evidence that Iran seeks nuclear weapons — aligning with IAEA's assessment. Putin said Moscow supports Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear program and is urging both nations to end the bloodshed. Amidst this chaos, misinformation has become rampant. AI-generated deepfakes and manipulated footage are blurring fact and fiction, fueling online disinformation campaigns. This digital fog is compounding the already tense information war surrounding the conflict. A bizarre moment occurred when a British-Iranian woman trying to reach her mother in Tehran was answered by a robotic voice in broken English — further highlighting the surreal intersection of war and technology. In a dramatic statement, a senior aide to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, vowed that IAEA chief Rafael Grossi would 'pay' after the war, accusing him of making conflicting statements that gave Israel a pretext for its surprise attacks. With diplomacy faltering and military actions intensifying, the region remains on a knife's edge — and global leaders are scrambling to contain a conflict that risks spiraling far beyond the Middle East.

Hindustan Times

27 minutes ago

• Hindustan Times

Israel military says it struck Iran's Isfahan nuclear site again

Israel struck Iran's Isfahan nuclear site overnight for the second time since the start of the war between the two arch foes, a military official said on Saturday. Israel's foreign minister said its strikes on Iran have delayed Tehran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon by at least two or three years. (AFP) "Isfahan we targeted in the first 24 hours of our operation, but we carried out a second wave of strikes there overnight, deepening our achievements and advancing the damage to the facility," the military official told reporters during a briefing on condition of anonymity. He added that Israel "dealt a severe blow to Iran's centrifuge production capabilities." Meanwhile, Israel's foreign minister said its strikes on Iran have delayed Tehran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon by at least two or three years. "According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in an interview. Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of Iran's nuclear programme, questioning in particular the country's accelerated uranium enrichment. Israel's military also said that it had killed a top Iranian official in charge of military coordination with Palestinian militant group Hamas in a strike on Qom, south of Tehran. Israel's armed forces chief Eyal Zamir warned that his country should be "ready for a prolonged campaign" against Iran. "We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign," Zamir said in a video statement to Israelis. Israel launched attacks against Iran on June 13, which have combined targeted assassinations of key military personnel and nuclear scientists with strikes on Iran's nuclear and missile facilities. Zamir said Israelis needed to brace for more difficulties, as the country comes under frequent attack from Iranian ballistic missiles.

Time of India

34 minutes ago

• Time of India

Kari Lake makes it official: Trump administration almost totally dismantles Voice of America. Who is she?

Live Events Who is Kari Lake? (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The Trump administration has terminated 639 employees at Voice of America 9VOA) and its parent organization in the latest round of sweeping cuts. Hundreds of employees at the VOA were notified Friday they are being laid off as President Trump's administration works to trim down and retool the English-language broadcaster under his close ally Kari Lake Kari Lake announced termination notices would be sent to employees at the broadcaster, part of what she called a 'long overdue' effort to trim down the 'bloated unaccountable bureaucracy' overseeing the outlet. The move comes just days after USAGM Senior Adviser Kari Lake called back dozens of employees for the network's Persian-language service amid Israel's conflict with Iran, reports The Independent.'For decades, American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that's been riddled with dysfunction, bias and waste. That ends now,' said Kari Lake, Trump's senior advisor to USAGM, in Friday's termination layoffs at the agency began in March when President-elect Trump signed an executive order targeting federal agencies he labelled as "bloated bureaucracy". VIA staff were placed on paid leave and broadcasts were December last year, Trump picked Kari Lake to run the state-funded global media organisation Voice of America (VOA), the publicly funded broadcast network that drew his ire in his first term. A former local news anchor and staunch Trump ally, Lake mounted unsuccessful Senate and gubernatorial campaigns in Arizona, according to a TOI is a top adviser at the US Agency for Global Media , which oversees the VOA, Radio Free Europe and a number of other foreign broadcast outlets launched by the federal government after World War II. She had previously floated plans to replace the service's professional journalism with content from One America News Network (OANN), a rightwing pro-Trump network that would provide programming without in 1969, Kari Lake Halperin is an American political figure and former television news anchor. She started her career in the early 1990s and was the anchor for the Phoenix television station KSAZ-TV from 1999 to 2021. She stepped down from her anchor role shortly before announcing her gubernatorial candidacy, winning the Republican nomination with the endorsement of Donald was raised in Iowa and graduated from North Scott Senior High School in Eldridge before earning a Bachelor of Arts in communications and journalism from the University of August 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Lake organized anti-mask rallies and urged Arizona State University students to defy campus mask mandates. She stated that, if elected governor, she would oppose both mask and vaccine November 2021, during a talk with Republican retirees, Lake revealed she was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against COVID-19. She also expressed skepticism about the science behind COVID-19 vaccines and said she had not been vaccinated. Lake was previously married to electrical engineer Tracy Finnegan. She has been married to Jeff Halperin since August 1998.