Pope Leo XIV on Monday published a more than 100-page treatise on the subject of artificial intelligence, using his first encyclical since taking office a year ago to warn of the many dangers that the technology poses to humanity.
In the document, entitled “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), the pope calls for strict guidelines on how to deal with AI, while also outlining the opportunities it brings.
The first encyclical issued by a new pope is generally seen as a kind of policy declaration for his papacy, providing the world's 1.4 billion Catholics with a moral compass on the topic at hand.
Safeguarding humanity in the era of AI
The encyclical bears the subtitle: "On safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence."
Although the first US-born pope has warned about AI several times over recent months, the document emphasizes that the technology can be a "valuable tool" in various fields.
But Leo says that the advantages are unequally shared, benefitting the few people who already carry significant wealth. This means that "small but highly influential groups can shape information and consumption patterns, influence democratic processes and steer economic dynamics to their own advantage," he writes.
For this reason, the pope goes on, it is essential that the use of AI "be guided by clear criteria and effective oversight, grounded in participation and subsidiarity."
In addition to stricter regulation, he stresses that AI must be underpinned by human values and morality. This will, however, be no use, he says, "if that morality is determined by a few" - in what is interpreted as clear criticism of tech billionaires in the United States.
The risks of AI in autonomous weapons systems
The pontiff is particularly critical of the impact of AI's impact on conflicts, arguing that AI-supported autonomous weapons systems have made war "more feasible."
Decisions about life and death must under no circumstances be left to machines, he says. "It is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems."
AI executives among cardinals
Leo attended the presentation of the encyclical in Vatican City, sitting on a panel alongside cardinals, theologians and the co-founder of AI company Anthropic, Chris Olah.
The San Francisco-based tech firm describes itself as an "AI safety and research company," and has clashed with the US administration over its refusal to allow its AI models to be used in automated weapons systems or for monitoring the population.
President Donald Trump has expressed strong criticism of both the pope and Anthropic in the recent past.
"Magnifica Humanitas" was published 135 years after pope Leo XIII published his encyclical "Rerum novarum" (Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour), which laid the foundation for Catholic teaching on the effects of the Industrial Revolution.
The new pope is referring back to his namesake's encyclical in the face of a predicted AI revolution.
