Pope Leo’s AI Warning Isn’t Just For Catholics |
Pope Leo’s AI Warning Isn’t Just For Catholics
(Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP via Getty Images)
This week, the first American Pope, Leo XIV, released an encyclical letter: a document written for the spiritual direction and moral guidance of Catholics throughout the world. The main topic of the encyclical is Artificial Intelligence (AI), though it treats the various principles of Catholic Social Teaching as framed for modern dialogue by Pope Leo XIII more than a century ago. The text appears to have Silicon Valley in view, and it seems intended to open up a conversation between the Church and the tech world.
It is no surprise why the leader of the world’s largest religious body would want to weigh in on AI.
AI has already entered every sphere of life and is used daily for both technical and mundane needs. It writes text for websites, marketing materials, and a great deal of worthless fiction. People have fallen in love with AI chatbots. AI has encouraged people to commit acts of violence and divorce their spouse. The data centers that keep it running consume untold quantities of water and electricity, and its need for critical minerals drives young children into dangerous mines. But AI has also cracked decades-old mathematical problems and helped doctors catch diseases in their patients that would otherwise go undetected.
AI is everywhere. It has good and bad effects. How are we supposed to respond to it? (RELATED: Pope Leo XIV Issues Sweeping Teaching On Upholding Human Worth In A World Embracing Artificial Intelligence)
For Pope Leo XIV, the answer is not a simple one, and his letter on the topic serves as only an introduction. In that letter, titled Magnifica Humanitas, it is clear that Leo does not want to rage against the machine. He treats AI as a tool, while suggesting it is a tool that is never purely neutral. He sees the technology as a possible tool for building up the Kingdom of God. In fact, the whole letter is framed by........