Pope warns flock to raise their faces, protect their voices in fightback against AI

Catholics need to develop critical thinking skills to counter the dark side of AI and counter unnatural attachments to chatbots, the pope said this week in a message marking the Church's social communications day.

American-born pope Leo XIV also called on AI creators and platform CEOs to think about something other than maximizing profit and plundering the cultural archive to feed their models.

And he said individuals had a duty to protect their own image, face, and voice to prevent nefarious uses of AI, from cyber bullying to deep fakes.

Pope Leo was speaking on the Church's 60th World Day of Social Communications, which falls on the feast of St Francis of Sales (as all good Salesians would of course know.)

"Faces and voices are sacred," he reminded readers as "God…created us in his image and likeness."

But he swiftly moved from the theological to the technological ...