Nobel prize winners and experts gather at Borgo Laudato Si to discuss nuclear war and AI

Nobel laureates, experts discuss nuclear war and AI at Borgo Laudato Si

Over 200 Nobel Prize winners, former heads of state, university representatives and experts gathered on Tuesday, July 14, among the pine trees and olive groves of the papal gardens in Castel Gandolfo to discuss artificial intelligence and nuclear war.

It was the first day of the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War, which will last until Thursday, July 16, and is inspired by Pope Leo XIV's encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.

The assembly will culminate in the signing of the Rome Declaration on an Unarmed and Disarming Peace in the age of artificial intelligence, nuclear and autonomous weapons, new digital protocols, and emerging models of digital development. It aims to present guiding principles for the governance of AI focused on cooperation, human dignity, integral development and peace.

The three-day event features discussion sessions on topics such as “The fragility of the human family in the nuclear age,” “Technology in the service of humanity,” and “The moral challenges of AI and War.”

The first two days of the assembly will be held at the Borgo Laudato Si' (“Laudato Si' village”) in the Papal gardens in Castel Gandolfo, while the third and final day of the event will be held at the Capitoline Hill, seat of the municipality of Rome.

The need for shared principles in this moment in history

“We gather at a moment in history marked by increasingly profound geopolitical tensions, the fragmentation of the international order, and intensifying technological competition,” said Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and General Director of the Center for Higher Education at the Borgo Laudato Si’, in his introductory remarks. He highlighted how these issues are being accompanied by the rapid development of AI and autonomous technologies.

In this regard, he underlined the importance of this gathering and of promoting dialogue within different fields. “At a time when the pace of innovation often exceeds that of reflection, the world stands in need of shared principles capable of guiding progress toward authentically human ends,” he said.

“This Assembly is not gathered simply to analyse risks,” emphasized instead Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, President of Domus Communis Foundation, who is participating in the event, in his address.

“It is gathered to renew hope, to demonstrate that dialogue remains possible, that wisdom can still accompany knowledge, that humanity has not lost the capacity to govern its own future.”

“May future generations be able to say that, at a moment when humanity possessed unprecedented power over its own destiny, women and men of conscience chose cooperation over confrontation, dialogue over fear, and hope over resignation,” he insisted.

The opening session centered on the theme “Magnifica Humanitas for the Future of Our Common Home,” as many of the discussions are inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, which was released in May.

The session began with an address by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life, who gave an overview of the Pope’s text.

Several notable speakers then took the floor, including Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Colombia, who welcomed Pope Leo XIV’s call in Magnifica humanitas to disarm AI and noted how “it is only by acting in a similar spirit that we can hope to tackle all existential threats facing humanity.”

He emphasized that “without effective governance, it will be difficult, impossible, to ensure that AI becomes a force for good guided by human dignity, responsibility, accountability and rule of law.”

Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Emeritus Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, insisted instead in his address on how we are living through the end of a civilization and the beginning of the next one and the importance of involving young people in shaping the future of the world.

Other speakers in this session included Dr. Agnès Callamard Secretary General of Amnesty International; Dr. Amir Banifatemi, Founder and Board Member of the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI; Professor James Muller, Co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Nobel Peace Laureate Organization, 1985); Professor Karen Hallberg, Secretary General of Pugwash Conferences (Nobel Peace Laureate Organization, 1995); and Professor David Gross, Nobel Prize in Physics and Chancellor's Chair Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was marked by several discussion sessions focusing on themes such as when AI escapes human control. Several speakers gave addresses, including Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Co-founder and CEO of Rappler, and AI researchers from entities such as the Anthropic Institute or DeepMind, offering different perspectives on the topics.