Pope Leo XIV calls to ‘disarm’ AI in first encyclical

Pope Leo XIV Calls to “Disarm” AI in First Encyclical, Warning of a “New Tower of Babel”

Pope Leo XIV on Monday released his first encyclical, a sweeping nearly 43,000-word document that calls for the “disarming” of artificial intelligence and warns that the technology risks becoming a modern Tower of Babel if left unchecked in the hands of powerful corporations and governments.wherepeteris

The encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), was presented by the American-born pontiff in the Vatican’s Synod Hall — a break with tradition, as popes do not typically speak at the launch of their own encyclicals. Joining him on the panel was Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, the AI safety company currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Trump administration over the military use of its technology.americamagazine

A “Change of Epoch”

In the document, which he signed on May 15 to mark the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s labor encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” Leo XIV frames artificial intelligence as a “change of epoch” for the human person and warns against “a race for ever more powerful algorithms and larger datasets, driven by the desire to secure geopolitical or commercial dominance”.rte

“The first choice is not between a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ to technology, but between building Babel or rebuilding Jerusalem,” the pope wrote. “With the heart of a shepherd and a father, I ask everyone to abandon the construction of yet another Tower of Babel and to join forces in building up the common good”.wherepeteris

The encyclical argues that AI is “not morally neutral” and calls for independent audits, algorithmic transparency, and equitable access to data. Leo warns that the principal engines of AI development are now “private actors, often transnational,” wielding resources “greater than those of many governments”.wherepeteris

New Forms of Slavery and the Rejection of “Just War”

Some of the pope’s sharpest language targets what he calls the “new forms of slavery” behind AI — from poorly paid content moderators to children mining rare earth minerals. “The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly,” he wrote.rte

Leo also made one of the clearest papal repudiations of just war theory, writing that it “is now outdated” — a pointed statement given that Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have invoked the doctrine to defend the conflict with Iran. On autonomous weapons, the pope declared: “There exists no algorithm that can make war morally acceptable”.wherepeteris

A Church Engaging Technology Directly

The encyclical is the Catholic Church’s most authoritative statement yet on artificial intelligence. Alongside the document, Leo established a new Interdicasterial Commission on Artificial Intelligence to coordinate the Vatican’s response to the technology.thegoodnewsroom

The presence of Anthropic’s Olah at the launch underscored the political dimensions of the encyclical. Anthropic is currently suing the Trump administration after being ordered off government systems for refusing to grant the Pentagon unrestricted use of its AI models.rte

“A subtle temptation may emerge, namely the thought that the problems are too big and we are too small,” Leo wrote. “Yet, no one is without responsibility”.rte