Paolo Benanti

Paolo Benanti is an Italian Franciscan friar and moral theologian whose work on the ethics of artificial intelligence reaches from the Pontifical Gregorian University to the Vatican, the Italian government and the United Nations. Born in Rome in 1973, he left engineering studies at Sapienza University to join the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis in 1999, and he earned a doctorate in moral theology at the Gregorian in 2012 with a thesis on the cyborg. From 2015, he developed an ethical framework for AI around the concepts of algorithm and algocracy, and in 2018 he became a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life with a mandate for the world of AI. In 2023, he joined the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, and in January 2024 he became president of the Italian government's AI Commission on Information. He teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University and advises Pope Leo XIV on artificial intelligence.

Now at: Pontifical Gregorian University
Works: 43
Citations: 646
h-index: 13
Badges: Wayfarer

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1999–2012

A doctoral thesis on the cyborg

Born in Rome in 1973, he leaves his engineering studies at Sapienza University and enters the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis in 1999. He earns a doctorate in moral theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 2012, and his thesis, The Cyborg: Body and Corporeality in the Post-Human Era, wins the Bellarmino-Vedovato Award for the best doctoral thesis in public and social ethics.
Since 2008

Professor at the Gregorian

From 2008, he works as a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Theological Institute of Assisi and the Pontifical College Leoni d'Anagni. In 2013 and 2014, he attends the Intensive Bioethics Course at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.
2015–2018

An ethical framework for AI

From 2015, he develops an ethical framework for artificial intelligence around the concepts of algorithm and algocracy. In 2018, he publishes the books Le macchine sapienti and Oracoli. Tra algoretica e algocrazia, and Vincenzo Paglia names him a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, with a mandate for the world of artificial intelligence.
2021–2022

Academy member and Human in the loop

In February 2021, Pope Francis appoints him an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. In 2022, Mondadori Università publishes his book Human in the loop. Decisioni umane e intelligenze artificiali.
October 2023

UN advisory body on AI

In October 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres names him one of the 38 members of the High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, which prepares recommendations on the international governance of AI, a shared understanding of risks and challenges, and key opportunities. He is the only Italian member.
January 2024

Heading Italy's AI commission

In January 2024, he becomes president of the AI Commission on Information, the Italian government body that looks into the effects of AI on publishing and information, replacing Giuliano Amato. He also helps clarify technical terms for Pope Francis, and he attends Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's meeting with Bill Gates in Rome in January 2024.
May 2026

The encyclical Magnifica Humanitas

In May 2026, Pope Leo XIV publishes his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, a letter on humanity in the age of AI. He contributes to the text.
As of October 2026

Adviser to Pope Leo XIV

He advises Pope Leo XIV on artificial intelligence, as he advised Pope Francis, and teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University. In September 2026, he speaks at the École normale supérieure. As a guest of the Italian embassy, he also visits Australia, meets Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and warns that allowing AI training on copyrighted work without permission risks a "new form of colonialism".