Pope Leo XIV says AI doom concerns are not 'fake news' and rebukes Nvidia's Jensen Huang for opposing regulation
On Sept 28, 2026, at a press conference on his flight back to Rome from a four-day trip to France, Pope Leo XIV said experts' warnings that AI could threaten humanity "should be taken seriously" and are not "fake news, as some have said". He singled out Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who had announced AI guardrails but is "the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation". The remarks came a day before the White House AI lunch, which Huang attended.
Key facts
- Occasion: in-flight press conference returning from France, Sept 28, 2026 (Reuters, America Magazine)
- Quote: 'I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously. I don't think that that is fake news, as some have said.'
- On Huang: he had read that Nvidia's head announced a way to insert guardrails into AI models, but 'He's the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation.'
- The Pope said he is not 'in panic mode' but 'we can't just sit back and pretend that nothing is going to happen'; he called for AI experts, political leaders and social organizations to work together so AI 'does not get to a point where it could destroy humanity' (America Magazine)
- CBS Sunday Morning interview with Jo Ling Kent (aired Sept 20, 2026): Huang said there is '0% chance' 2030 will be 'the end of the world', called extinction warnings 'not grounded in science' and scaring people 'irresponsible', said existing liability law is enough, and agreed with Trump that the industry needs no new guardrails
- Context: Huang told CBS News in September that he agreed with Trump that AI safety concerns were overblown; Trump told the UN General Assembly the week before that AI fears were a 'hoax' (Reuters, Axios)
- Nvidia had just launched an open safety platform for agents (Sept 28), the guardrails announcement the Pope appeared to refer to (TNW)
- Earlier (Business Insider, Sept 20): Huang said AI leaders calling for regulation don't want new legislation but to be 'relieved of the laws we do have' for 'ulterior reasons'; Paul Graham replied that people look for ulterior motives because they don't grasp that models could be dangerous (233K views)
- Same week: Sept 24 address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Sept 25 address at UNESCO in Paris, both on AI (separate entry); AOL/Yahoo re-ran the 'not fake news' story on Oct 3
What happened
Asked about AI on the papal plane, Leo XIV defended the experts warning of catastrophic risk and criticized Huang by name, pointing to a contradiction between Nvidia's safety tooling and its opposition to government rules.
Why it matters
Leo XIV made AI the theme of his first encyclical (Magnifica Humanitas, May 2026). Here he sides openly with the "take the risk seriously" camp against the White House and Nvidia, the day before the White House lunch where the industry signed only voluntary commitments.
Changelog
- 2026-09-29: created
- 2026-09-30: sweep 2026-09-29: added Huang's Sept 20 "ulterior reasons" remark (Business Insider) and Paul Graham's reply
- 2026-09-30: added the CBS Sunday Morning interview (Sept 20) with quotes and the extended-interview video link
- 2026-10-04: sweep 2026-10-04: linked the Sept 24–25 Vatican/UNESCO speeches and Thiel's 'useful idiot' remark (new entries); AOL re-run of this story checked, no new facts
People
Donald Trump Jensen Huang Peter Thiel Pope Leo XIV
Related posts (1)
- Paul Graham on why people suspect ulterior motives when AI labs ask for regulation original ↗ Paul Graham @paulg · x · 2026-09-20
Prominent reply (233K views) to Jensen Huang's claim that labs seek regulation for 'ulterior reasons'.
Related events
- Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas", is devoted to AI ★★★
- Trump at the UN General Assembly 'totally rejects' any global scheme to control AI and renames it 'super intelligence' ★★★★
- NVIDIA launches the Open Agent Safety Platform (OpenShell + Sentry) with 100+ partners; Perplexity publishes SPACE breakout tests ★★★
- Trump hosts AI CEOs at the White House; they sign a voluntary 'morally binding' Accord on Superintelligence, and Trump rejects new federal AI rules ★★★★
- NYT: Anthropic's summits with religious leaders on Claude's possible consciousness, and Chris Olah's private lobbying of the Vatican ★★★★
- Pope Leo XIV makes AI the theme of addresses to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Sept 24) and UNESCO in Paris (Sept 25) ★★
- Peter Thiel calls Pope Leo XIV a 'useful idiot' for the Chinese Communist Party over his AI encyclical ★★
- Bill Gates warns AI could drive events causing 'a billion deaths' and says industry self-regulation is 'insane' ★★★
- Pope Leo XIV on AI art: 'Algorithms lack the spark of humanity' ★★★
- Altman: ascribing 'religious force' to AI models is 'a real safety issue', a veiled jab at Anthropic's faith-leader outreach ★★★
Sources (11)
- pressCBS News: Nvidia's Jensen Huang rejects AI extinction warnings as 'doomsday narratives' (Sept 20)
- videoCBS News video: Extended interview, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on fears about AI
- pressBusiness Insider: Jensen Huang says AI leaders calling for regulation have ulterior motives (Sept 20)
- discussionPaul Graham on X: reply on labs' motives for regulation
- pressFinancial Times: Pope Leo rebukes Jensen Huang over AI risks
- pressReuters via US News: Pope Leo says concerns about AI doom are not 'fake news'
- pressAmerica Magazine: Pope Leo is not 'in panic mode' about an A.I. catastrophe, but 'we can't just sit back'
- pressAxios: Pope Leo rejects AI 'fake news' claims after Trump calls fears a 'hoax'
- pressAl Jazeera: Pope Leo says AI risk concerns not 'fake news'
- pressNational Catholic Reporter: Pope Leo says alarm over AI not 'fake news,' but remains optimistic
- pressTNW: Pope Leo says AI safety fears are not 'fake news', criticises Jensen Huang
id: 2026-09-28-pope-leo-rebukes-huang-ai-risk · updated 2026-10-04 · open in the interactive timeline