Despite his Chicago roots, the pope didn’t spend yesterday grilling by the lake. Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical yesterday, and spent most of the 83-page document offering a warning to Silicon Valley and policy makers about artificial intelligence.
The encyclical—a pastoral letter outlining the church’s position on a topic—is titled “Maginifica Humanitas,” which translates to Magnificent Humanity. Leo cautioned that AI could be the “new Tower of Babel”:
- The document warned that AI power shouldn’t be concentrated among just a few private companies and that people’s jobs should be protected. Leo wrote that “the pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs.”
- Leo also urged more independent oversight and AI regulation, saying “a more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few.”
- Without calling out any specific conflict, the pope criticized AI’s role in normalizing war and demanded developers build a chain of command that doesn’t allow AI to use weapons without human input.
It’s no surprise Leo spent so much time discussing AI
When he was elected last May, Leo said AI posed “challenges to human dignity, justice, and labor,” equating the technology to advancements during the Industrial Revolution.
The AI-themed encyclical was not only the first major theological doctrine of Leo’s pontificate, it was also the first papal encyclical publicly presented by the pope himself. Leo delivered his declaration while standing next to Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah, a gesture to the dialogue between Silicon Valley and the Vatican. Tech leaders traveled to Rome to discuss AI and make their case to Leo amid growing public backlash ahead of the document’s release.
A timely treatise: Pope Leo signed the encyclical on May 15, the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum,” a pivotal encyclical that highlighted the need for workers’ protections and addressed the limits of capitalism. But he didn’t just look to the past: The meditation on AI apologized for the Vatican’s role in legitimizing slavery, a first for any pope.—MM