The Rundown: The Pope on AI. The Pope’s 42,000-word verdict on AI

POPE ON AI✝️ The Pope’s 42,000-word verdict on AIImage source: Images 2.0 / The Rundown

The Rundown: Pope Leo XIV just released Magnifica Humanitas, his first encyclical, to the Church’s 1.4B members, warning that a moral AI means nothing “if that morality is determined by a few” and calling to “disarm” the tech before it dominates humanity.

The details: Leo warned that AI’s drivers are private, transnational companies that already surpass the capacity of many governments, and that the tech is never neutral. He called for making AI “human-friendly” and freeing it from monopolistic control, warning it risks reducing people to cogs in an efficiency machine. Leo called for “robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users, and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility.”

On warfare, he said lethal decisions must never be delegated to AI and that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable.”

Anthropic’s Christopher Olah also joined the Pope, saying “every frontier AI lab operates inside incentives that can conflict with doing the right thing.”

Why it matters: The Pope issues only a handful of encyclicals, and dedicating one to AI signals how seriously the Catholic Church is taking what’s coming. Leo sees AI as the Industrial Revolution of our time, and he’s chosen a partner that has been the most vocal about AI safety and most willing to say no to unrestricted AI use by the military.
Unknown's avatar

About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a comment