By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
Pope Leo touched down in Paris on Friday, opening the first papal state visit to France in nearly two decades. The trip carries no shortage of freight.
The pope is expected to address the Catholic Church's standing in France after years of abuse scandals that have hollowed out trust in the institution. He arrives, too, as the country wrestles publicly with assisted dying — a debate the church has entered forcefully on one side.
But it is the AI speech that has diplomats and technologists watching closest. Leo is due to deliver a major address on artificial intelligence development at UNESCO, a venue chosen for its weight in global science and education policy. From Paris he travels to Metz, where he is expected to speak about Europe's future — a session some European leaders are expected to attend, according to reporting from the Guardian and Al Jazeera.
Neither outlet detailed the specific abuse cases the pope is expected to address, nor the exact contents of the AI remarks, which have not yet been delivered. Readers should treat descriptions of the speech's content as anticipatory until Leo actually speaks.
What is clear: a pope choosing to use a major European platform to weigh in on artificial intelligence signals how far the technology's reach has extended — into pulpits as much as parliaments. Whether the Vatican's voice moves the AI policy conversation in Brussels or Washington is a separate question, and an open one.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE — Ingrid Frost
— Compiled from reporting by The Guardian and Al Jazeera.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."