'Profound, prophetic': Pope Leo warns of AI's dehumanizing effects

What are humans worth, when the work and thoughts they produce threaten to be replicated by technological algorithms? And what is AI worth, if in the end it does not benefit humanity?

With his first major document as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV has produced a “tremendously significant” and ultimately hopeful treatise addressing the moral questions posed by artificial intelligence while stressing the need to center humans as the rapid developing technology progresses, church observers said.

The eagerly awaited encyclical from the first U.S.-born pope, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), waxed joyfully on the glory of humanity, urged that AI benefit the common good, called on policymakers to protect workers’ rights and to keep kids safe amid AI’s proliferation and pressed for strict regulation of AI systems to halt the spread of misinformation, conflict and war.

“Pope Leo’s encyclical asks the right questions of an industry that has so far been better at building first and considering the consequences later,” said Marco Trombetti, CEO and cofounder of Translated, a Rome-base AI company partnering with the Vatican to use AI technology to translate Masses at St. Peter’s Basilica in real time.

In the 43,000-word document, released May 25, the pope encouraged “robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility.” He called for more active political involvement “capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating.”

Paolo Carozza, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, called the document “profound and prophetic.” By characterizing ideas such as the dignity of work, the limits of automation and the use of AI in warfare not as abstractions but necessary considerations for anyone developing AI technology, he said, the pope’s treatise, he said, “will prove to be a defining document for our era.”

“Ethics cannot be an afterthought,” Carozza said. “It has to be the starting point, shaping how these systems are built, governed and deployed."

While acknowledging artificial intelligence as a tool of enormous potential but one that has spawned unemployment fears, privacy concerns and questions of self-worth, the encyclical nonetheless strikes an optimistic tone, framing the technology as an instrument meant to serve – and not replace – human beings.

“He does a good job of not condemning AI technologies and their very vast set of roles,” said Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones, an assistant professor of theology and Africana studies at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. “He’s saying we have some choices to make in terms of whether we’re going to optimize machines at the cost of human life or in ways that bring greater dignity to humanity.”

Some said the encyclical was especially welcome given what Carozza characterized as “a real vacuum of moral leadership on the global stage.”

“It’s tremendously significant,” said Sally Scholz, a professor of philosophy at Villanova University in Philadelphia. “People have been hungry for global leadership and a reframing of the moral issues around AI, rather than focusing on the economics and capacities of technology.”

In the document, Pope Leo leaned on his Augustinian foundations, noting St. Augustine’s description of human history as a struggle “between two cities,” or two ways of inhabiting the world with others – one focused on love of God and neighbor, the other on the exclusive love of self.  

He cautioned against AI becoming a modern Tower of Babel – “a construction that is grandiose, yet fundamentally dehumanizing,” contrasting the folly of that project with the shared community efforts of rebuilding Jerusalem, as depicted in the Bible’s Book of Nehemiah.

“What are we building?” Leo wrote. “As technological development rapidly transforms languages, relationships, institutions and forms of power, we believers must and can choose which projects to work on and in what manner, so as to safeguard and value the grandeur of humanity that has been given to us as a gift.”

The two loves described by St. Augustine’s “continue to contend for dominance in our hearts today,” Leo wrote. “The age of AI is no exception: the construction of Babel or the rebuilding of Jerusalem begins within each one of us.”

'Human life can't just be an update'

In his encyclical, Leo fretted about multiple ongoing wars, lamented the decline of multilateral coalitions and blasted arms industry profits as driving the conflicts.

"The past 60 years have been marked by conflicts of astonishing brutality, often affecting civilian populations on a massive scale," he wrote. "Humanity is slipping into a violent culture of power, where peace no longer appears as a responsibility to be taken on, but as a fragile interval between conflicts.”

AI, he said, is adding fuel to the fire.

But while the document cites dangers and harms already evident with AI, such as automated warfare, labor displacement and the erosion of politics and democracy, it is decidedly not anti-technology, Carozza said.

“The real question is not whether AI as such is good or bad, but whether the ways we develop and deploy the technology helps individuals and communities,” he said.

In other words, does the technology center humanity, helping people and communities become more just and participatory? Or does it instead lead to exclusion, inequality and exploitation? Not centering humans, he said, risks creating a culture of power and violence, with “the increasing normalization of war without ethical limits” an already visible consequence.

“The overarching core message is that if we are to preserve our humanity, we must not allow people to be reduced to mere data,” Carozza said.

Adkins-Jones said the encyclical presents AI as an opportunity to question what it means to be human and part of a larger community. In other words, while artificial intelligence marks a significant technological evolution, questions about whether to use Claude or ChatGPT are less important than how AI can help promote ideals such as truth, justice and the common good.

“Part of what Pope Leo is saying is that human life can’t be reduced to terms and conditions,” she said. “Human life can’t just be an update.”

Adkins-Jones noted the pope’s citing of the foundational 1891 encyclical issued by his predecessor Leo XIII, who called for better pay and conditions for laborers during the Industrial Revolution. In this week’s Magnifica Humanitas, Leo XIV denounced what he called "new forms of slavery" endured by workers tending AI systems and factory workers who produce the devices, such as computers and smartphones, on which AI is used.

“Let’s put humans back on the table,” Adkins-Jones said. “They’re not peripheral to the conversation.”

“These are major questions that we as communities have got to face but that are easily obscured by the latest cartoon meme on social media,” she said. “It can keep us from thinking seriously about questions about surveillance, identity and what it means to care for one another, to love one’s neighbor. These are not antiquated realities, especially as people turn to chatbots for love and connection.”

Pope: Communities must work to shape AI's future

The pope's document called on the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics and society at large to engage with AI fearlessly, critically and creatively. Human capacity produced AI and can – and must – shape its future, he said, rather than submitting to predictions of doom and gloom.

“The pope is reminding us that we are the ones who invented AI and not the other way around,” said Mirela Oliva, a professor of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. The encyclical’s very title, she said, “is telling us – you are great, you are a human being that has received the gift of intelligence and are able to make this amazing instrument. And now it’s up to you to use it thoughtfully, for the benefit of humanity.”

Oliva hopes the document will prompt widespread discussion and inspire people to embrace artificial intelligence with optimism. While much debate has swirled around concerns that some students will rely on AI to write essays, she said, “this is a great opportunity to tell students that when you do that you are a passive user, and you’re relinquishing your creativity and intelligence rather than adopting AI as an assistant to your own efforts.”

Scholz, of Villanova, said she appreciated that the pope “gave us such a rich, full picture of what it means to be human in this AI era.” She hopes the document will be adopted in book clubs and taken up in church conversations.

By highlighting the human capacity for love and relationship and emphasizing communal responsibility in decision-making, Scholz said, the pope’s message is that “the path forward is one we choose together, rather than being inevitable. He’s offering us a path forward that is deeply needed in this moment."

In a world facing the lingering health impacts of isolation and what health officials have called a widespread epidemic of loneliness, "the pope is saying we have the power to change that," she said. "That hope and urgency to me is quite inspiring.”

Contributing: Reuters