Cardinal Parolin warns AI risks human extinction if it erodes child dignity; urges global interdisciplinary action at Rome conference.
Newsroom (12/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) Humanity stands on the brink of self-extinction if artificial intelligence fails to uphold human dignity, particularly that of children, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin cautioned in a message delivered Wednesday to an international conference in Rome.
Addressing the gathering titled “The Dignity of Children and Adolescents in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” Parolin posed stark questions about technology’s trajectory: “Are we standing at the threshold of a new era, or will human beings sooner or later bring about their own extinction through the introduction of artificial forms of life? Will we degenerate into mere simulations that no longer recognise human dignity?”
The conference, organized by Italian child helpline Telefono Azzurro and the Foundation Child for Study and Research into Childhood and Adolescence, convened leading academics, scientists, and technologists to examine AI’s ethical, legal, social, and anthropological implications.
Parolin described child protection in the digital era as “one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today and in the future.” While acknowledging science and technology’s contributions to human freedom and responsibility, he stressed that AI’s rapid evolution raises “existential and moral questions on a scale rarely seen before.”
To navigate these perils, the cardinal advocated rigorous evaluation of digital opportunities and risks for individuals, communities, and creation itself. Such analysis, he argued, should inform policy, legislation, education, and social services through “interdisciplinary and multicultural efforts” that reflect global complexity and diversity.
Echoing Pope Francis’ 2017 address to the World Congress on Child Dignity in the Digital World at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Parolin concluded: “We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology; we can put it at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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