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As the US and China race on AI, the Vatican presses for global safeguards
Confirmed
In Short: Through formal diplomacy and a Catholic network spanning from Beijing and Washington to Silicon Valley and the Global South, the Vatican is positioning itself as a moral convener in the AI debate and a potential bridge between the rival superpowers.
The address will cap off a day of reflection on artificial intelligence, education, and peace, according to UNESCO.
John-Clark Levin, an AI researcher and advocate for Vatican involvement in AI governance, said, 'Pope Leo could be instrumental in reviving the bilateral U.S.-China diplomatic engagement on AI safety.
However, Vice President JD Vance, who once suggested the pope could help broker a U.S.-China pause in the AI arms race, has since become skeptical of AI regulation, questioning the need for external oversight.
On Friday, Leo will take his appeal for AI regulation to UNESCO’s 194 member states, including China.
The Vatican press conference held in connection with the Fourth Fratelli Tutti Synodal Meeting in Rome highlighted the need for collective bargaining, social dialogue, and human oversight as safeguards for jobs, rights, and human dignity.
What this adds
The Vatican's push for AI regulation comes amid escalating demands from top AI companies for a global slowdown in AI development.
What's confirmed
- The address will cap off a day of reflection on artificial intelligence, education, and peace, according to UNESCO.
- John-Clark Levin, an AI researcher and advocate for Vatican involvement in AI governance, said, 'Pope Leo could be instrumental in reviving the bilateral U.S.-China diplomatic engagement on AI safety.
- However, Vice President JD Vance, who once suggested the pope could help broker a U.S.-China pause in the AI arms race, has since become skeptical of AI regulation, questioning the need for external oversight.
- On Friday, Leo will take his appeal for AI regulation to UNESCO’s 194 member states, including China.
- The Vatican press conference held in connection with the Fourth Fratelli Tutti Synodal Meeting in Rome highlighted the need for collective bargaining, social dialogue, and human oversight as safeguards for jobs, rights, and human dignity.
What's still developing
- VATICAN CITY (RNS) — On Friday (Sept. 25), Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to give a keynote address at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, marking the first papal visit to the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization in more than four decades, and capping off “a day of reflection on artificial intelligence, education and peace,” according to the organization.
- On Monday, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the former head of the Vatican’s think tank on life and bioethics, is speaking at the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers event on AI equity in New York City.
- “If anyone can,” Cantú said, “the Vatican is well poised” to bring Washington and Beijing into talks over shared AI safeguards.
- The Vatican may find Beijing more receptive than Washington to its calls for AI oversight.
- China already imposes extensive domestic controls on AI and has called publicly for international cooperation, while the Trump administration has resisted comprehensive regulation.
- Looming over the Trump-Xi summit are recent escalating demands for AI regulation — including from the leaders of top AI companies, who are calling for a global slowdown on AI development amid revelations of rogue AI agents and increasingly dire predictions that include civilizational annihilation.
- While Xi has publicly endorsed international cooperation on AI safeguards, Trump has resisted, dismissing the catastrophic warnings as a “ hoax.” As the U.S.
- Meanwhile, through formal diplomacy and a Catholic network reaching from Beijing and Washington to Silicon Valley and the Global South, the Vatican is quietly positioning itself as a moral convener in the AI debate and a potential bridge between the rival superpowers.
- VATICAN CITY — As artificial intelligence reshapes workplaces and corporate decision-making, labor leaders and Catholic bishops are calling for workers to have a direct voice in how the technology is introduced and used.
- 10–12 gathering in Rome focused on dialogue between the Global North and South on social and environmental issues.