Pope Francis called for the prohibition of “lethal autonomous weapons” during his address at the G7 leaders' summit in Italy, addressing the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) in warfare.

On Friday, the pontiff became the first Roman Catholic Church leader to join a Group of Seven meeting.

“In the face of the tragedy of armed conflict, there's an urgent need to reassess the development and deployment of devices like ‘lethal autonomous weapons’ and ultimately ban them,” the pope asserted.

“This starts with a concrete commitment to exert greater and appropriate human control. No machine should ever decide to take a human life.”

The G7, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US, stated on Friday that AI could significantly contribute to advancing progress and development within our societies.

“We acknowledge AI's impact on the military sector and the necessity for a responsible development and usage framework,” the leaders conveyed in a preliminary statement.

Pope Francis, 87, who has faced mobility challenges recently, arrived in Puglia by helicopter and was received by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

He addressed the assembled leaders in southern Italy, stating, “Artificial intelligence is both an exciting and formidable tool. We would doom humanity to a future devoid of hope if we deprived people of their ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by making them dependent on the choices of machines.”

The Argentine pope spoke following numerous bilateral discussions with leaders such as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In a social media statement, Zelenskyy said that he and Pope Francis discussed the upcoming summit on Ukraine, set for Saturday and Sunday.

“We talked about the repercussions of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Russian air terror, the challenging energy sector situation ... and our expectations for the Global Peace Summit,” Zelenskyy mentioned.