Pope calls on G7 leaders to ban use of autonomous weapons

‘We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives.’ Pope Francis at the G7 summit in Italy on Friday. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis has made a historic address to G7 leaders urging them to recognise they have the power to decide if artificial intelligence becomes a terrifying or creative tool, and calling on them to ban the use of autonomous weapons in war.

In the first address by a pope to a meeting of G7 leaders, he said it should never be for machines to decide whether human beings live or die.