ASSISI (LiCAS News): Charles Maung Cardinal Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, has called on Christian leaders and lawmakers to oppose the use of artificial intelligence [AI] in warfare and to support a binding international ban on fully autonomous lethal weapons.
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar delivered the keynote address, entitled “The Urgent Call for Christian Leaders to be Effective: Christ-Centred Peacemakers in the Digital Era”, during discussions on human dignity, artificial intelligence, and Christian leadership in peacemaking in Assisi, Italy, on August 24.
Cardinal Bo warned that delegating lethal force to machines would remove human conscience and moral responsibility from decisions regarding life and death.
“Therefore, as representatives of the people, your mandate is clear: you must champion an immediate, binding international ban on fully autonomous lethal weapons,” he said, stressing that autonomous weapons pose a fundamental moral problem because machines cannot understand the consequences of taking human life.
“When you delegate lethal force to an autonomous weapon system, the concept of a ‘moral agent’ collapses entirely,” Cardinal Bo said.
AI is becoming a swift weapon in the hands of the wealthy and the powerful, perpetuating unending wars and leaving thousands in misery
Cardinal Bo
“A machine cannot possess a right intention; it cannot comprehend grief, mercy, or the sacred value of a human life. It can only execute statistical optimisation,” the cardinal added.
He warned that rapid advances in AI are increasingly being linked to military power and geopolitical rivalry.
“AI is becoming a swift weapon in the hands of the wealthy and the powerful, perpetuating unending wars and leaving thousands in misery,” the cardinal said.
He asked whether AI would become “a tool in the hands of humanity for greater peace or a weapon in the hands of the arrogant and toxic powers to inflict more agony on the innocents?”
Cardinal Bo placed the rejection of automated warfare first among three pillars he proposed for Christian leadership: “No War”, “Peace for All”, and “Prosperity for All”.
The cardinal said Christian leaders have a responsibility to work for peace beyond private expressions of faith.
A machine cannot possess a right intention; it cannot comprehend grief, mercy, or the sacred value of a human life. It can only execute statistical optimis
Cardinal Bo
“Your faith is not a private luxury to be hidden away; it is a public covenant to build peace in a world tearing at the seams,” he said.
Referring to Christ’s teaching on peacemakers, Cardinal Bo said the task required confronting injustice and divisions within society.
“He blesses the peacemakers—those who actively build bridges, enforce structural justice, and cultivate narrative empathy across bitter political and social divides,” the cardinal said.
He also warned that unchecked AI could deepen political polarisation, surveillance, and economic inequality, while concentrating power among governments and technology companies.
Cardinal Bo urged lawmakers to impose binding safeguards and require greater accountability from technology firms, rather than treating the spread of AI as inevitable.
“Stand up as true leaders. Establish binding legal guardrails, demand corporate transparency, reject the automation of human slaughter, and ensure that technology remains entirely subservient to the magnificent humanity that God has entrusted to our care,” the cardinal said.
