Pope Leo urges AI risk talks as Trump rejects brakes

Pope Leo XIV said warnings about AI going rogue are not “fake news” and deserve serious attention. Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane returning from France, he said he was not “in panic mode,” but argued that governments and industry cannot ignore concerns raised by AI specialists.

Trump has called concerns about AI going rogue a “hoax.” The president and House Speaker Mike Johnson are reportedly expected to meet Tuesday with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Johnson said the talks will focus on balancing oversight and innovation, while warning against a moratorium or heavy regulation that he said could cause the U.S. to “lose the race to China.”

The debate is unfolding as the U.S. and China compete to build more powerful models. The White House said the countries agreed to establish a channel for AI-related incidents after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit, while Trump said the U.S. “is not going to be putting on brakes.” Amodei warned that AI could lead a swarm of agents capable of taking over the entire internet within six to 12 months, and Bill Gates said AI could drive events that “cause a billion deaths.”