Pope Takes Aim at AI in First Encyclical

As expected, Pope Leo XIV addressed the issue of Artificial Intelligence in his first encyclical since becoming the 266th successor of St. Peter. Rumor has it that he quoted Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, which can be confirmed.

AI has raised so many questions. The pope wanted to ensure that faith could still answer the moral issues surrounding this 21st-century phenomenon. AI seems to be convenient for many people across different industries and professions. Yet, they can be flawed.

Here are some of the main points his holiness makes when it comes to AI.   

A Dynamic Approach Faithful to the Gospel

The pope reminds us that the church is “called to address the forces, technologies, and developments shaping society.” He also reminds us that the “truth must be shared”.

Social Doctrine as Dialogue

Catholic Social doctrine is a “core set of unchanging truths” (46). The foundations of Social Doctrine include: 1) that the human person is made in the image of the Triune God. 2) All human beings have equal dignity. 3) The supreme value of human rights. 

Technology and Dominance

When it comes to the growth of technology, the pope makes four major points.

1) the Church allows herself to be enlightened by God’s word, reads the signs of the times and creatively seeks new ways for relationships between peoples and nations to become ever more conformed to the demands of the Kingdom of God.” (91) We can’t let “efficiency, control, and profit” be the sole factors in decision making, and we must evaluate the (mostly private) entities that are developing new technologies and their motives and effects.

2) AI imitates human intelligence. It cannot feel, think, learn, experience, mature, have experiences, or understand. This can be misleading because it makes an “artificial imitation of positive human connection” (100). There can be danger when people develop a “relationship” with AI instead of a genuine human connection.

3) The pope reminds us to safeguard humanity. “When efficiency becomes the ultimate measure of value, human beings are tempted to see themselves as a project to be optimized rather than as persons called to relationship and communion” (112). The same is true of any “good quality” such as intelligence or power. Humans are not goods to be used, and civilizations should be measured not by their power but by how they treat each human being.

4) Pope Leo discusses transhumanism (the enhancement of humans through technology) and posthumanism (the hybridization of humans and machines. Both imply that human beings can somehow be improved or modified to be perfected, when, in fact, we are already made in the image and likeness of God and ought not be judged by our ‘usefulness’ or productivity.

Technology has Consequences

“We must learn, then, how to exercise restraint in the use of AI and to protect our young people…” (140). The pope also addresses its use among young people. “Having a personal mobile device at too early an age and using it without adult supervision can exacerbate young people’s vulnerabilities, foster addiction and expose them to isolation, bullying and cyberbullying, as well as to pressures to share intimate images or sensitive information” (141).

Quoting Gandalf

We can't make this up. Pope Leo XIV unleashed his inter Tolkeinite when he used a quote from Gandalf in his encyclical. Here is the full context that fans of Tolkien will love. 

"The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” [187] The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization. For this reason, it is worthwhile pausing to reflect on some aspects of how we, each in our own way, can cooperate in building the civilization of love. Without presuming to exhaust this theme, I would like to propose five paths toward daily and public responsibility: the need to disarm words, building peace through justice, adopting the perspective of victims, cultivating a healthy realism, and reviving dialogue and multilateralism."

What timing is this encyclical? Pope Leo urges all Christians to “(contemplate) God’s plan, (live) ecclesial unity by partaking of the Eucharist, (build) a world centered on the common good and (pray) in union with the Blessed Virgin Mary” (229) and evaluates all he previously stated through the lens of the Magnificat and the Incarnation itself.

To read it in its entirety, read it here

Ignatius Press is accepting pre-orders for anyone who wants a hard copy of the first encyclical by Pope Leo XIV.