A message from Pope Francis to French President Emmanuel Macron for the Paris summit on action regarding Artificial Intelligence. 

Upon learning of your praiseworthy initiative to convene a Summit on Artificial Intelligence in Paris from 10 to 11 February 2025, I was pleased to see you chose to devote the Summit to action in the area of artificial intelligence.

During our meeting in Puglia in the context of the G7, I had occasion to stress the urgent need to “ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programmes”. I am convinced that, lacking such control, artificial intelligence, albeit an “exciting” new tool, could show its most “fearsome” side by posing a threat to human dignity.

I therefore appreciate the efforts to embark with courage and determination upon a political process aimed at defending humanity from a use of artificial intelligence that could “limit our worldview to realities expressible in numbers and enclosed in predetermined categories, thereby excluding the contribution of other forms of truth and imposing uniform anthropological, socio-economic and cultural models.” I am likewise pleased that in this Paris Summit you have sought to include the greatest possible number of actors and experts in a reflection meant to produce concrete results.

In my most recent Encyclical Letter Dilexit Nos, I distinguished between the operation of algorithms and the power of the “heart”, a concept dear to the great philosopher and scientist Blaise Pascal. I did so in order to emphasize that, while algorithms can be used to manipulate and mislead, the “heart”, understood as the seat of our deepest and most authentic sentiments, can never.

I ask all those attending the Paris Summit not to forget that only the human “heart” can reveal the meaning of our existence. I ask you to take as a given the principle expressed so elegantly by another great French philosopher, Jacques Maritain: “L’amour vaut plus que l’intelligence.” 

Your efforts, dear friends, represent an outstanding example of a healthy politics that situates technological innovations within a greater project that seeks the common good and is thus “open to different opportunities which do not imply stifling human creativity and its ideals of progress, but rather directs that energy along new channels.” 

Artificial intelligence, I believe, can become a powerful tool in the hands of those scientists and experts who cooperate in finding innovative and creative solutions that promote the eco-sustainability of the earth, our common home, while not overlooking the high consumption of energy associated with the operation of artificial intelligence infrastructures.

In my Message for the 2024 World Day of Peace, which was devoted to artificial intelligence, I insisted that “in debates about the regulation of artificial intelligence, the voices of all stakeholders should be taken into account, including the poor, the powerless and others who often go unheard in global decision-making processes.” In this regard, I trust that the Paris Summit will (lead to) creation of a platform of public interest on artificial intelligence so every nation can find in artificial intelligence an instrument for its development and its fight against poverty, but also for the protection of its local cultures and languages.

Only in this way will every people on earth be able to contribute to the creation of the data employed by artificial intelligence so that the latter will reflect the true diversity and richness that is the hallmark of our human family.

This year, the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education jointly produced a “Note on the Relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence.” It is my hope that future Summits will consider in greater detail the social effects of artificial intelligence on human relationships, information and education. Yet the fundamental question is, and will continue to be, human, namely: whether amid these technological advances, “man, as man, is becoming truly better, that is to say, more spiritually mature, more aware of the dignity of his humanity, more responsible, more open to others, especially the neediest and weakest. Our ultimate challenge will always remain mankind. May we never lose sight of this!

I thank you and express my gratitude to all of you who have contributed to this Summit.

February 6, 2025