Pope Takes Stage with Anthropic: A Guide to the Vatican's First AI Encyclical
On May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV released the Vatican's first AI-focused encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas: Safeguarding Humanity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence." Choosing this name explicitly connects the document to Pope Leo XIII's response to the Industrial Revolution, framing AI as a similarly transformative shift. The Pope argued AI must be "disarmed," comparing its potential dangers to nuclear weapons, and called for governance beyond tech companies and market forces.
Significantly, the launch featured Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah, who described AI models as "grown" from human language and reflecting human emotions, yet not fully understood by their creators. He acknowledged commercial pressures on labs and stated fundamental questions—like ensuring AI benefits poor nations, defining human flourishing, and understanding what we are creating—require input from philosophy and religion.
The encyclical warns that universal prosperity from AI is an "illusion" without deliberate design. Citing a century-old observation that humanity is ill-trained to wield great power, it argues we must learn to use AI before it controls us. The Church offers no technical solutions but claims its millennia of wisdom on human dignity is essential to ensure AI serves, rather than dominates, human conscience and prosperity.
marsbit05/26 04:00
