Vatican Holds Global AI and Nuclear Disarmament Summit, Issues Rome Declaration

More than 200 participants—including around 30 Nobel laureates, former heads of state, AI developers, scientists, Catholic leaders and civil‑society representatives—gathered from 14 to 16 July at Borgo Laudato Si in the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo summer residence. The World Assembly of Nobel Laureates on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War examined how AI could either promote peace or heighten the dangers of nuclear conflict amid a fragile international security environment marked by the Russia‑Ukraine war and tensions in the Middle East.

The three‑day meeting concluded with the issuance of the Rome Declaration for an Disarmed and Disarming Peace, which sets out principles and recommendations for governing AI, autonomous weapons, digital governance and the modernization of nuclear arsenals. The declaration calls for the development of international norms to ensure AI is used responsibly and to reduce the risk of accidental or automated nuclear escalation.