2026-10-30 (The Verge — theverge.com): Pope Leo XIV says AI systems should be "disarmed" — "machines are tools, not persons" — and that humans "have the responsibility to guide, change and, when necessary, reject its applications." In the papal address delivered October 30, 2026, he encourages UN member states to "take concrete steps toward banning lethal autonomous weapons" during their meeting in Geneva next month; the address echoes his first major papal document in May on safeguarding the human person in the age of AI. Watch: the Geneva meeting's response, whether member states move toward ban text, and whether other institutional leaders adopt the disarmament framing.