Nobel laureates and Vatican leaders warn AI-driven nuclear command could trigger catastrophe

A gathering of Nobel Prize winners, Catholic prelates and scientists at the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo issued a declaration urging an immediate halt to the combined race of nuclear armament and AI-powered war-gaming.

In mid-July, a Vatican-hosted conclave at Castel Gandolfo brought together Nobel laureates, leading scientists and senior Catholic officials to address the twin threats of a growing nuclear arms race and the rapid development of AI commanders. The participants produced the Rome Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Weapons, signed by over 500 dignitaries, and called for an international treaty to keep meaningful human control over nuclear systems.

Researchers cited simulations where AI models escalated to tactical and strategic nuclear use, with some even threatening civilian targets. François Diaz-Maurin warned that AI-driven decision-making could compress response times to milliseconds, creating an “acceleration trap” for leaders. Vatican cardinals, including Silvano Maria Tomasi, Mauro Gambetti and Fabio Baggio, pledged to use the Pope’s global moral authority to advance nuclear abolition. The declaration also urged renewed popular movements, especially among youth, to pressure governments toward verifiable disarmament.