Pope Leo XIV called for the regulation of artificial intelligence to ensure it is used for the common good rather than profit in his first encyclical, released on Monday, titled “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.”
Marking the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum on Monday, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, which was highly anticipated since he was selected to become the first American pope following the death of Pope Francis last year. The document focuses primarily on the rise of artificial intelligence and the threats it poses to humanity if not properly regulated.
While technology is “not inherently evil,” it is “never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it,” Leo wrote, adding that “it is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.”
“It is not enough to invoke a generic type of ethics,” the pope wrote. “Concrete criteria for discernment must be established. The first such criterion concerns personal responsibility. When a decision to strike becomes automated or opaque, the risk of abdicating responsibility increases. For this reason, the chain of responsibility must be identifiable and verifiable; those who design, train, authorize and employ technology must be held accountable for their decisions.”
Leo added there is “no limit to the race — driven by a dehumanizing ambition — to develop evermore powerful technologies or to secure control over them.”
“AI is already an environment in which we are immersed, as well as a force with which we must engage,” Leo wrote. “For this reason, merely regulating it is insufficient; it must be disarmed, welcoming and accessible.”
Leo’s stance could restart tension between the Vatican and the Trump administration.
The Pentagon has made deals with several AI companies to integrate their platforms into classified and unclassified settings. Earlier this year, the department labeled Anthropic, one of the leading AI companies, a “supply chain risk” over a dispute about how the department could use its AI platform, Claude. Anthropic has since sued the administration twice. Both lawsuits are still playing out.
POPE LEO APOLOGIZES FOR CATHOLIC CHURCH’S LEGITIMIZING OF SLAVERY: ‘WOUND IN CHRISTIAN MEMORY’
The pope became a target of President Donald Trump’s ire for repeatedly speaking out against the war in Iran. In early May, Trump said of the pope, “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people … but I guess if it’s up to the Pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio became the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with Leo earlier this month to settle the tension, though the secretary maintained the trip had been planned before the spat began.
