Pope Leo XIV has warned that children must not come to see artificial intelligence chatbots as substitutes for real friendship, cautioning that such reliance could harm their intellectual and emotional development. Source: EWTN News.
“We must not allow children to end up believing they can find in artificial intelligence chatbots their best friends or the oracle of all knowledge, dulling their intelligence and their capacity for relationships, and numbing their creativity and thinking,” the Pope said.
Leo made the remarks in a message published on Sunday in Popotus, the weekly supplement of the Italian newspaper Avvenire dedicated to children, marking its 30th anniversary.
In that context, he urged adults to “safeguard” childhood and guide “the growth of children so that they may become protagonists of a renewed world”.
The Pope has consistently highlighted artificial intelligence as a central concern of his pontificate, framing it as an ethical challenge comparable to the industrial revolution addressed by Pope Leo XIII.
In his message to Popotus readers, Leo encouraged children to rediscover the beauty of the world.
“I want to tell you that restoring the world’s beauty is possible and that you can help adults to see it – precisely through this newspaper designed for you – with renewed wonder, to think about it with trust, and to build it without prejudice,” he said.
He also emphasised fundamental values to be preserved in childhood: “Trust in those who love you, the universal language of love, the disarming power of a smile, the courage to ask forgiveness, the beauty of making peace.”
He expressed “great concern” over wars threatening humanity’s future and underscored the need to recover a pure way of seeing reality.
Pope Leo thanked parents and educators for “the care and love with which they educate children,” helping them “to draw out the beauty within them and to express it in ever new ways.”
“Today especially, in the digital age and the age of artificial intelligence, we all need ongoing education. And to remain human, we must preserve a childlike way of looking at reality,” he concluded.
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Pope Leo XIV warns children should not look to chatbots for friendship (By Victoria Cardiel, EWTN News)
