AI Weapons Should Never Be Used in War, Says Vatican

As I tirelessly point out, AI doesn't just mean lost jobs. Now the arms manufacturers want in on the deal. Isn't war already horrible enough?

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

The United States recently signed an agreement with OpenAI that gives the Department of War access to their technology.

With new wars raging around the world, the race to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in warfare has begun to escalate as well.

The United States was initially in talks with the AI company Anthropic, but CEO Dario Amodei released a statement that said, "Today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons ... We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk.”

After Anthropic removed itself from consideration, the United States made an agreement with OpenAI. The details of the agreement have been posted online, but much of the implementation behind it is classified.

This means that warfare will look much different in the coming days, weeks, and months as the United States and other countries around the world work to deploy AI in battle.

No to AI weapons

The Vatican is very clear on its stance regarding the use of artificial intelligence in warfare. This is written out in the document, Antiqua et nova:

While AI’s analytical abilities could help nations seek peace and ensure security, the “weaponization of Artificial Intelligence” can also be highly problematic. Pope Francis has observed that “the ability to conduct military operations through remote control systems has led to a lessened perception of the devastation caused by those weapon systems and the burden of responsibility for their use, resulting in an even more cold and detached approach to the immense tragedy of war.”

Furthermore, the Vatican has stated that AI weapons in particular should be banned:

Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, which are capable of identifying and striking targets without direct human intervention, are a “cause for grave ethical concern” because they lack the “unique human capacity for moral judgment and ethical decision-making.” For this reason, Pope Francis has urgently called for a reconsideration of the development of these weapons and a prohibition on their use, starting with “an effective and concrete commitment to introduce ever greater and proper human control. No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being.”

Pope Leo XIV has had similar reactions to the use of AI, and has asked that countries do not use AI in the modern arena of war:

There is even a growing tendency among political and military leaders to shirk responsibility, as decisions about life and death are increasingly “delegated” to machines. This marks an unprecedented and destructive betrayal of the legal and philosophical principles of humanism that underlie and safeguard every civilization. It is necessary to denounce the enormous concentrations of private economic and financial interests that are driving States in this direction.

Despite these warnings, nations are racing, hoping that they will be the first ones to use artificial intelligence on the battlefield.

Let us pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Peace.