The Pope's AI advisor says the technology can be worse for kids than cocaine

Paolo Benanti advises the Vatican on AI issues.

Massimo Di Vita/Archivio Massimo Di Vita/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images A friar who advises the pope on AI has warned about its effects on young minds.

Paolo Benanti said it "could be much, much worse than the addiction of nicotine or sugar or cocaine." Pope Leo has made AI a central concern of his pontificate.

AI's impact on young minds can be worse than an addiction to nicotine or cocaine, said a moral theologian who advises the pope.

In a Wednesday interview with the BBC's "Newsnight," Paolo Benanti said AI technologies could be "super manipulation tools." "The emotional bending that such a kind of machine can produce in young adults and kids could be much, much worse than the addiction of nicotine or sugar or cocaine," he added.

Benanti is a Franciscan friar who teaches at Pontifical Gregorian University with a focus on the ethics of technologies.

He has become a go-to advisor for the Vatican.

He is also part of the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican body whose members are selected by the pope to promote the Catholic Church's teachings on the sanctity of life.

He told the BBC that it is necessary to be "really clear and careful" to protect young people from the effects of AI .

"When we start to develop the scooter, we force them to have a helmet," he added.

"It's time to have a brain helmet." Benanti pointed to the "uneven relation of power," in which tech leaders "can manipulate and control the most fragile brains." "Democracy needs brains that are able to have an opinion on facts," he added.

His remarks come after AI leaders, including Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman, backed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's calls to slow development and embed third-party safety evaluators within their companies.

Benanti said international treaties are necessary to ensure that AI is beneficial to humanity.

While the pope is not a politician, Benanti said he "has the power to speak to everyone." "I think that we will use it to call for an international action to protect the most fragile people from AI," he added.