Pope Leo XIV, in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), released Monday, May 25:

In recent years, it has become increasingly evident how rapidly and profoundly digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are transforming our world. Technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity. On the contrary, it has formed part of our history since the beginning as “a profoundly human reality, linked to the autonomy and freedom of man.” Over the centuries, technological development has significantly improved the living conditions of humanity. At the same time, each phase of progress has also revealed the ambiguity of tools that can cause harm when not oriented toward the good. […]

In the past, it was largely up to the State to guide and direct innovation. Today, however, the main drivers of development are private, often transnational, parties that are endowed with resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many Governments. Technological power thus takes on an unprecedented, predominantly “private” aspect, which makes it even more challenging to discern, govern and direct such power toward the common good.

For this reason it is necessary to begin a shared discernment process for identifying the spiritual and cultural roots of ongoing transformations. If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. We are living through a rapid phase of transition, a “change of era,” in which — while some are vying for the future of new technologies and others dedicate themselves to reflecting on the matter — most people are watching and waiting, observing from afar and merely hoping for the best. For this very reason, crucial questions impose themselves on our conscience and can no longer be avoided: Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?

After invoking the construction of the Tower of Babel and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, Pope Leo then writes:

Technology has the power to heal, connect, educate and protect our common home; but it can also divide, exclude and generate new forms of injustice. In the abstract, technology in and of itself is not a solution to humanity’s problems, just as it is not inherently evil. In practice, however, technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it.

Putting aside the religiosity (an admittedly enormous thing to put aside), I find myself agreeing with the pope. (You can’t imagine how much that pains me as an atheist.) I was struck by how eminently reasonable it seemed. Rational, even.

I learned of this encyclical because the tech (and religious) press is very focused on the presence of Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, at the document’s release event. Justin McLellan, reporting for National Catholic Reporter, a week ago:

The encyclical […] will center on “the protection of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence” and will be presented May 25 by the pope as well as Curial cardinals and theologians, the Vatican announced Monday.

Leo’s decision to take part in the launch of his own encyclical is atypical and highlights his desire to position the Vatican’s voice as a leading moral authority on the development and application of AI.

To that end, among those joining him will be Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, the developer of Claude, one of the world’s most widely used AI chatbot models.

Riccardo Leoni, writing for Decode39:

The Vatican’s choice of Olah was deliberate. The encyclical bears the Pope’s signature dated May 15th — the 135th anniversary of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, the foundational text of Catholic social teaching on workers’ rights during the industrial revolution. The parallel is unmistakable: Leo XIV is framing AI governance as the defining social question of the age, and he has selected Anthropic — not OpenAI, not Palantir — as his interlocutor from the technology world. […]

The selection of Anthropic’s co-founder as a panellist reads as a clear preference for the ethics-driven approach over the accelerationist camp.

“Accelerationist” meaning the Peter Thiel/Palantir “wing of Silicon Valley, closely aligned with the Trump orbit,” which offers “visions that place technological acceleration above all else.” Otherwise known as “not ethics-driven.”

Anthropic is seeking to secure its reputation as the “ethical (by comparison)” AI option and has found an unconventional partner in the Vatican, which itself seeks to establish ethical and moral guidelines for the use of AI. It’s likely that Anthropic was the only major AI company to acknowledge the need for guidelines that aligned with the Church.

While I don’t support the religious basis that underpins the encyclical, I believe it provides a meaningful starting point for erecting much-needed ethical and moral guardrails for AI (in particular) and technology (in general).

See Also: If you’d rather not read the entire 52-page encyclical (with footnotes!), Vatican News provides a helpful summary.