Pope Leo rebukes artificial intelligence, calls for slower AI development
Pope Leo XIV, the head of the Catholic Church, has issued his first major teaching document, an encyclical titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity). In it, the Pope warns that artificial intelligence needs to be ‘disarmed’ before it causes deep harm to humanity.
Unlike most previous popes, Pope Leo XIV personally presented this encyclical, and in the audience was not only his cardinals but also AI experts such as Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah. The 42,000-word long document expresses his concern at the development of artificial intelligence, especially AI being used in warfare, calling for it to be subject to the most rigorous of ethical constraints, and that we cannot let AI make decisions that can affect human lives.
“Sometimes there is talk of “artificial moral agents,” as if machines were able to distinguish between right and wrong with greater consistency than a human being. Yet moral judgment cannot be reduced to calculation, for it involves conscience, personal responsibility and the recognition of the other as a person.
Therefore, it is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems. No algorithm can make war morally acceptable.
AI does not remove the intrinsic inhumanity of conflict; indeed it can only bring about conflict more quickly and render it more impersonal, lowering the threshold for resorting to violence, transforming defense into threat prediction and thus reducing victims to data. In this way, it will accustom us to the idea that violence is inevitable and needs only to be optimized,” – Pope Leo XIV
The Pope also called for greater responsibility over AI. He states that AI use is not just a technical matter, but rather one that touches on the rights, opportunities, status and freedom of people. He points out clearly harmful uses such as manipulation of information and privacy concerns, but also subtler concerns like when AI systems present themselves as neutral and objective yet retain the stereotypes and biases of their designers.
“For AI to respect human dignity and truly serve the common good, responsibility must be clearly defined at every stage: from those who design and develop these systems to those who use them and rely on them for concrete decisions.
In many cases, however, the internal processes leading to a result remain opaque, making it harder to assign responsibility and correct errors. This is where accountability becomes crucial: the possibility of identifying who must “account” for decisions, justify them, monitor them, and, when necessary, challenge them and remedy any harm caused,” – Pope Leo XIV
On top of that, the Pope calls for not just prudent and rigorous evaluation of AI, but also a slower pace of AI adoption. This doesn’t mean that the Vatican is opposing progress, according to Pope Leo XIV, but rather that it is an ‘exercise of responsible care for the human family’. He adds that we cannot be satisfied with just the alignment of AI with our values, but also we must discuss the ethical frameworks involved and subject them to shared standards of social justice.
Pope Leo XIV also went on to raise concern whether these new ways of working with AI are truly better or not, with how technology is de-skilling workers, and that the need to keep pace with technology could stifle their abilities to work in the first place. He adds that the pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs too, with the human being an end not a means, and that the economy must work towards human dignity and the common good.
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