Holy See renews call for moratorium on AI weapons-development

The weaponization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a chief driver of a moral crisis that has brought humanity to “a critical juncture,” and the international organs designed in the wake of WWII to prevent catastrophe are largely sidelined.

That was the stark assessment of the Holy See, shared officially on Thursday at the high-level segment of the United Nations’ permanent Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

The statement from the Holy See came as the most powerful nation on earth moves rapidly to implement a policy of AI acceleration that includes the development of autonomous weapons systems.

In January, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth circulated a memo to all branches detailiong the Pentagon’s new Artificial Intelligence Acceleration Strategy.

“Together with capability innovation,” Hegseth stated in his memo, “we must more fully incorporate AI and Autonomy into military planning; tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) development; and experimentation processes.”

Industry leaders reluctant to cooperate with the Pentagon on autonomous weapons development and espionage capabilities have already begun to face threats of backlash.

RELATED: New US policy on AI threatens industry disruption, puts US at loggerheads with Holy See

The Holy See’s representative to the high-level segment of the Conference’s 2026 meeting, Monsignor