Pope Leo XIV calls for distinction between human and AI-generated art

Pope Leo XIV has called for a clear distinction between human-made art and content generated by artificial intelligence, saying algorithms “lack the spark of humanity” and urging the Catholic Church to strengthen its ties with artists.

In a post on X on Friday, the pontiff said distinguishing human art from machine-generated work had become increasingly urgent in the age of AI.

He described the difference as “ontological” rather than merely aesthetic, arguing that art created by humans is fundamentally different from content generated through statistical calculations based on millions of existing images.

He also said the Church wanted to renew its alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard humanity.

The post received more than 15.7 million views, over 3.29 lakh likes and about 64,000 reposts within hours.

The remarks come as AI tools for generating images, music and videos raise questions about originality and the use of artists’ work as training material. The pope’s reference to images “created by others” points to concerns over generative models being trained on large collections of existing human-created works.

AI has been a recurring theme of Pope Leo’s papacy. The first American pontiff, elected in May 2025, said shortly after his election that AI developments posed new challenges for human dignity, justice and labour.

He has also linked his papal name to Pope Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

In May, Pope Leo signed his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence. The Vatican has also established an interdicasterial commission on AI.

The pope has previously urged priests not to use AI to prepare homilies and advised young people to use the technology without losing their ability to think, create, and act independently.