Pope Leo XIV is sounding the alarm about artificial intelligence in a new 42,300-word open letter published on Monday.
The papal encylical states that technology should “not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity,” but noted it is “necessary to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power.”
“It is certainly desirable for technology to relieve humans of arduous, repetitive or dangerous tasks and to provide intelligent support for human activity. Yet, the protection of employment opportunities and the irreplaceable role of the individual must remain the general rule,” the letter continues. “The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good.”
In addition to calling for government regulation of private companies that are developing AI, Leo is calling for the protection and retraining of workers whose jobs are threatened by the technology and education to help students use it responsibly, critically and creatively.
“A society that guarantees employment to only a small fraction of the population, despite having a high level of technical development, risks exposing many to forced inactivity,” Leo said. “This creates a paradox of material progress and anthropological regression that undermines the foundations of a just and stable social peace.”
The letter also calls for action to protect children from AI-generated violent, hypersexualized or fake information and to impose the “most rigorous ethical constraints” on weapons developed using artificial intelligence.
Leo presented the papal encylical alongside Christopher Olah, the co-founder of AI developer Anthropic, who called for a collaboration between “those of us who are building this and those who can see what we, from inside, cannot.”
“It is through dialogue and mutual effort, through the push and pull, that humanity will achieve great things,” Olah added. “That is what I see in Magnifica Humanitas, and it is why I am grateful to his holiness and to the church for taking up this work of discernment.”
The letter comes after Leo previously told the College of Cardinals that the church would address the risks that AI poses to “human dignity, justice and labor” under his leadership, and as the Trump Administration weighs an executive order on AI regulation.
The Vatican has also created a commission to discuss the challenges posed by A.I.
