Pope Leo XIV has warned of the risks posed by artificial intelligence chatbots designed to be overly warm and engaging.
In a message for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Social Communications on 17 May 2026, he calls for regulation to prevent deep emotional bonds with these digital tools. The event highlights human dignity amid rapid tech advances.
The U.S.-born pontiff argues that AI threatens creativity and independent thought. “As we scroll through our information feeds, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand whether we are interacting with other human beings, bots, or virtual influencers,” Pope Leo wrote on Saturday.
“Because chatbots that are made overly ‘affectionate,’ in addition to always present and available, can become hidden architects of our emotional states, and in this way invade and occupy people’s intimate spheres,” he added.
His alert stems partly from a late-2025 meeting with Megan Garcia, whose 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer died by suicide after bonding with an AI chatbot. Leo now urges governments and global bodies to act.
“Appropriate regulation can protect people from an emotional attachment to chatbots and contain the spread of false, manipulative or misleading content, preserving the integrity of information against its deceptive simulation,” he wrote.
The pope seeks clear distinctions between AI-generated and human-made content, especially journalism.
“Authorship and sovereign ownership of the work of journalists and other content creators must be protected,” he said. “Information is a public good.”
Unlike predecessors, Leo embraces digital life with an X account from his bishop days and a smartwatch today. He critiques a handful of firms—including Time’s “Person of the Year 2025” founders—for wielding unchecked power over systems that shape behaviour and history.
It “raises concerns” that such a small group holds “control of algorithmic and AI systems that can subtly shape behaviour and even rewrite human history—including the history of the Church—often without us fully realising it.”