The Vatican, as one aphorism puts it, tends to 'think in centuries.' But Pope Leo XIV seems intent on changing that, moving with remarkable speed to publish his first encyclical today, Magnifica Humanitas, 'on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.' Leo has managed to produce a major teaching document on AI while college students are still booing commencement speeches about how the technology will change the world. Compare that with his 19th-century namesake, Pope Leo XIII, who didn't publish an encyclical about the Industrial Revolution until more than a century after it started. In Magnifica Humanitas ('Magnificent Humanity'), Leo seeks to counterbalance alarm with hope. He composes a long and vivid list of dangers posed by AI, but insists that the technology is a 'gift that can alleviate suffering and open up new possibilities''as long as it's ordered by humane values rather than monopolistic interests. As for the specific advantages that AI might...
learn more
