In an interview with Vatican News by Roberto Cetera, published on 13 October 2026 and also carried by L’Osservatore Romano, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that artificial intelligence “is not something the industry can self-regulate” and “must be led by neutral actors, primarily governments.” He added that “most people in government don’t fully understand how the technology works.”
Gates said that “we are not paying enough attention to the risks” and are not doing enough to take up AI’s opportunities in health, education and agriculture. Left to the market, he warned, the most capable tools “will get built first for whoever can pay the most, not for whoever needs them most.” He called for more AI expertise inside governments and for governments to work with industry and with each other.
Asked about Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas, Gates said he had read it and found that it “lays a strong foundation for the work that needs to be done.” He noted that the Pope “isn’t saying ‘stop AI’” but argues that “we need to actively preserve what’s human,” pointing to roles such as caring for children, serving as a judge or juror, and parts of medicine “where the relationship itself is the point.” He said the engagement of the Catholic Church and other religious groups in the AI debate is “critical.”
For a Catholic framework on these questions, see Evangelii Network Japan’s paper Catholic AI and Human Dignity.
