Pope Leo refuses to authorise an AI Pope (www.pcgamer.com)

Pope Leo XIV publicly rejected a request to authorize an "AI Pope"—an artificial avatar that would answer believers’ questions and offer virtual audiences—telling biographer Eloise Allen that the papacy is "high on the list" of roles that should not be represented by an avatar. Framing AI as "another Industrial Revolution" and echoing his namesake’s concern for workers, he warned that unchecked automation and wealthy investors focused solely on profit risk eroding human dignity, justice and meaningful work. He clarified he’s not anti-technology, but fears a future where the "human heart" is lost amid technological development. For the AI/ML community this is notable both rhetorically and practically: religious leaders with global influence are pushing back on synthetic representation of public figures and on economic models that concentrate AI benefits. The stance underscores key technical and governance implications—consent and authorization for synthetic personas, risks of misuse and misinformation from believable avatars, the need for human-in-the-loop oversight, and socio-economic impacts of automation. Developers, platforms and policymakers should see this as another signal to embed ethical guardrails (transparency, provenance, equitable deployment and labor protections) into AI systems, not just optimize capabilities.