Full Breakdown
Pope Leo XIV Challenges U.S. President Trump on AI Safety Amid Upcoming White House Tech Summit
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event: Pope’s September 28 Press Conference on AI Risks
On the return flight from France on September 28, Pope Leo XIV addressed more than 80 journalists aboard the papal plane. When asked whether artificial intelligence could pose “catastrophic” or “existential” threats, the pontiff said the concerns raised by AI specialists are real and should not be dismissed as “fake news.”
Background & Context: Vatican’s AI Ethics Initiative and U.S.–China AI Competition
Leo’s remarks follow the publication of his first encyclical, *Magnifica Humanitas* (May 2026), which frames AI safety as a moral priority for humanity. The Vatican has since created an artificial-intelligence commission to coordinate study, investigation and outreach. At the same time, the United States and China are accelerating the development of ever more powerful models, prompting U.S. officials to stress the need to stay ahead in the “technological arms race.”
Official Statements & Responses
- President Donald Trump has repeatedly described AI-risk warnings as a “hoax,” characterizing them as politically motivated “fake news.” He framed any effort to limit AI development as a “conspiracy” by his opponents.
- Speaker Mike Johnson (House of Representatives) said the upcoming White House meeting with tech CEOs should focus on and rejected calls for a moratorium, arguing that “the innovation is important to continue.”
- He cautioned that without a slowdown, AI could lead a swarm of agents capable of taking over the internet within six to twelve months.
Criticism & Opposition
Trump’s dismissal of AI-risk concerns directly opposes the Pope’s call for precautionary measures. The president’s framing of safety debates as a “hoax” positions him against both the Vatican’s moral appeal and the warnings of AI researchers such as Amodei.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
Sources differ on Trump’s exact wording. Some outlets quote him calling AI-risk concerns a “hoax,” while a quoted statement in the Straitstimes article attributes to him the line “I don’t think that that is fake news, as some have said.” The discrepancy highlights a lack of consistent reporting on the president’s precise phrasing.
Verbatim Quotes
- “I don’t think that that is fake news, as some have said.” — Donald Trump, president
- “We do not need a moratorium, we do not need to jump in and hyper regulate this because we'll lose the race to China,” — Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, spacexai executive
- “If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” — Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, anthropic CEO
- “He’s the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation, et cetera, et cetera.” — Mr. Huang, nvidia chief executive
What’s Next
The White House has scheduled a meeting with leading AI executives for September 29. Attendees are expected to include Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and Google’s Sundar Pichai, alongside President Trump and Speaker Johnson.