Pope Leo XIV on Friday warned against using AI to incite “polarization, conflict, fear and violence” and criticized the “environmental destruction” caused by rare earth mining to fuel the digital boom.
The challenges posed by these systems are greater than they appear. It is not just about the use of new technologies, but the gradual replacement of reality by their simulations,” he said in a lecture at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, Cameroon. ” Thus, polarization, conflict, fear and violence increased. What is at stake is not just the risk of error, but a change in our very relationship to truth. ”
It marks the latest outspoken intervention by the pope on his landmark 11-day African tour, in which he abandoned his previous restraint in issuing an impassioned plea for world peace and clashed with compatriot Donald Trump after the US president slammed him for calling for an end to wars in the Middle East.
Leo has called for caution against AI several times since the May 2025 presidential election, but his latest warning about the technology comes as the US president faces increasing scrutiny over his use of AI.
President Trump on Sunday posted an AI-generated image of himself as a saint with a glowing halo, in response to the Pope’s criticism of the US and Israel’s war against Iran. The image was removed on Monday.
Leo acknowledged that “Christians, especially young African Catholics, should not be afraid of the new.”
But the continent “also knows the dark side of the environmental and social devastation caused by the relentless pursuit of raw materials and rare earths,” he added.
The AI boom relies heavily on mining the cobalt needed to power energy-intensive data servers, and Africa often bears the environmental, social, and human costs associated with mining.
Remarkably, competition for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s rich deposits of cobalt, copper, lithium and coltan is accelerating a three-decade spiral of violence in the mineral-rich east.
The country provided more than three-quarters of the world’s cobalt production in 2024, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Africa needs to be freed from the scourge of corruption,” Leo said, taking aim at the corruption-riddled mining industry where foreign powers – most notably China – reap the continent’s riches while locals suffer.
