Pope Leo: fears AI could destroy humanity are not 'fake news'

Pope Leo has said that fears artificial intelligence could destroy humanity are not “fake news” and must be taken seriously, in an apparent rebuke of US President Donald Trump.

Speaking at a press conference on his flight back to Rome on Monday after a four-day trip to France, the first US pope said: “I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously. I don’t think that that is fake news, as some have said.”

Trump told the UN General Assembly last week that he believed fears about the dangers AI poses to humanity were a “hoax.”

The pope, who has warned of the dangers of AI throughout his 16-month papacy, also criticised technology bosses who argue there should be no guardrails on the technology. He said he had read that Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang had announced there could be a way to insert guardrails into certain AI models — but expressed scepticism: “He’s the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation.”

Huang told CBS News this month that he agreed with Trump that safety concerns about AI were overblown.

Leo urged the world “to promote dialogue, study, investigation, to find ways to make sure that AI does not get to a point where it could destroy humanity,” adding: “We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing’s going to happen.”

The remarks land the day before Trump is expected to meet AI chief executives — including Huang, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman — at the White House on Tuesday to discuss balancing innovation and oversight.

Sources

• Reuters — “Pope Leo says concerns about AI doom are not ‘fake news’” (28 Sept 2026)
• The Print — “Pope Leo warns in France that AI is creating ‘paradise of machines’” (25 Sept 2026)