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Message of Pope Francis to the President of Republic of France
on the occasion of the “summit for action on artificial intelligence”
[Paris, 10-11 February 2025]
“Love is worth more than intelligence”
Mr President, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Participants,
When I learned of your laudable initiative to convene a Summit on Artificial Intelligence in Paris on February 10-11, 2025, I was pleased to see, Mr. President, that you decided to dedicate the Summit to action in the field of artificial intelligence.
During our meeting in Puglia in the context of the G7, I had the opportunity to stress the urgent need to “ensure and safeguard a space for adequate human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs”. I am convinced that, in the absence of such control, artificial intelligence, while being an “exciting” new tool, could show its most frightening side by posing a threat to human dignity.
I therefore welcome the efforts underway to launch with courage and determination upon a political process aimed at defending humanity against the use of artificial intelligence that could limit view of the world to realities that can be expressed in numbers and enclosed in predetermined categories, thereby excluding the contribution of other forms of truth and imposing uniform anthropological, socio-economic and cultural models. I am also pleased that at this Paris Summit you have sought to include the greatest possible number of actors and experts in a reflection designed to produce concrete results.
In my most recent Encyclical Letter Dilexit Nos, I distinguished between the functioning of algorithms and the power of the “heart”, a concept dear to the great philosopher and scientist Blaise Pascal, to whom I dedicated an Apostolic Letter on the fourth centenary of his birth.
I did so in order to emphasize that, while algorithms can be used to manipulate and deceive, the “heart”, understood as the seat of our deepest and most authentic feelings, can never deceive.
I ask all the participants in the Paris Summit not to forget that only the human “heart” can reveal the meaning of our existence. I ask you to take as a given the principle expressed so elegantly expressed by another great French philosopher, Jacques Maritain: “L’amour vaut plus que l’intelligence” (“Love is worth more than intelligence”).
Your efforts, dear friends, are an excellent example of a healthy policy that places technological innovation within a larger project that seeks the common good and is thus “open to different possibilities that do not mean stifling human creativity and its ideals of progress but rather redirecting that energy in new channels”.
Artificial intelligence, I believe, can become a powerful tool in the hands of those scientists and experts who work together to find innovative and creative solutions that promote the ecological sustainability of the Earth, our common home, without overlooking the high energy consumption associated with the operation of AI infrastructures.
In my message for the 2024 World Day of Peace, which was dedicated to artificial intelligence, I insisted that debates onthe regulation of artificial intelligence, should take account of the voices of all stakeholders, including the poor, the powerless and others who often go unheard in global decision-making processes.
In this regard, I trust that the Paris Summit will work for the creation of a platform of public interest on artificial intelligence, so that every nation can find in it a tool for its development and its fight against poverty, but also for the protection of its local cultures and languages. Only in this way will every people on earth be able to contribute to the creation of the data used by artificial intelligence, so that it reflects the true diversity and richness that is the hallmark of our human family.
This year, the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education jointly prepared a “Note on the Relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence”. That document, which was published on 28 January of this year, examines some specific issues relating to artificial intelligence that this Summit is considering, as well as others that I consider to be of particular concern. It is my hope that future summits will consider in greater detail the social implications of artificial intelligence on human relationships, information, and education. But the fundamental question is and will remain human: whether, in the midst of these technological advances, man, as man, is truly becoming better, that is, more spiritually mature, more aware of the dignity of his humanity, more responsible, more open to others, especially to the neediest and weakest.
Our ultimate challenge will always be humanity. May we never lose sight of this!
I thank you, Mr. President, and I express my gratitude to all of you who have contributed to this Summit.
From the Vatican, 6 February 2025. Pope Francis
