As the AI backlash continues to grow, critics of the tech have found an unlikely voice of support: the Catholic Church.
In perhaps his strongest rebuke of the tech industry’s rampant obsession with AI yet, Pope Leo called for the tech to be “disarmed” in his first encyclical, which is a special letter sent to bishops to outline the Catholic Church’s perspective on a topic.
“The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention,” the Pope said in an accompanying statement.
In his letter, titled “Magnifica Humanitas,” or “Magnificent Humanity,” the bishop of Rome did not beat around the bush. Despite being a “valuable tool,” Pope Leo slammed AI as “merely” imitating “certain functions of human intelligence,” contradicting tech leaders’ claims that AI might be gaining sentience or consciousness.
“So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean,” the document reads.
The pope went as far as to warn of parallels between tech and slavery, warning of “new digital slaveries” that normalize the exploitation of those tasked with labeling data for AI models or moderating content on social media.
“The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly,” the letter reads.
In his letter, the Pope also criticized the use of AI in war, writing that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable.”
Therefore, Pope Leo called to “disarm” AI to prevent it from “dominating humanity,” as well as “freeing technology from monopolistic control and opening it to discussion and debate.”
“AI is already an environment in which we are immersed, as well as a force with which we must engage,” the encyclical reads. “For this reason, merely regulating it is insufficient; it must be disarmed, welcoming and accessible.”
The Pope also drew attention to another highly contentious issue plaguing the AI industry, noting the “enormous amounts of energy and water, significantly influencing carbon dioxide emissions” of data centers, while calling for “more sustainable technological solutions that reduce environmental impact.”
None of this should come as much of a surprise. The pontiff has a long track record of being skeptical of AI and related tech. Shortly after being anointed just over a year ago, he revealed that his name was in part inspired by asutomation as the last Pope Leo, Leo XIII, was the head of the Catholic Church during the 19th century Industrial Revolution, an era defined by rapid technological advancement, rampant labor exploitation, severe wealth inequality.
“In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor,” he said during his first speech as pope last year.
He also recently warned priests to stop using ChatGPT to write their sermons.
Pope Leo’s AI skepticism hasn’t exactly endeared him to tech leaders and politicians. Trump-nominated secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum accused the pope of “tech editorializing” during a Fox Business interview on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump’s relationship with the pope has been severely strained as of late. Earlier this month, Trump lashed out at the Chicago-born bishop, for speaking against the Israel-US war on Iran, erroneously accusing him of being okay with the country having nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Claude developer Anthropic has chosen to throw its weight behind the pontiff, with cofounder Chris Olah calling for a “collaboration between those of us who are building this and those who can see what we, from inside, cannot.”
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