By Oluwakemi Kindness
Pope Leo XIV has called for the “disarming” of artificial intelligence in his long-awaited manifesto on the rapidly developing technology, warning of “new forms of slavery” behind its rise.
He cautioned against “a race for ever more powerful algorithms and larger datasets, driven by the desire to secure geopolitical or commercial dominance,” during the presentation of his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), at the Vatican.
The event featured AI experts, including Christopher Olah, co-founder of US firm Anthropic, which is currently involved in a legal battle with the US military over concerns about lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance.
Olah said AI companies operate under incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing, while welcoming external input, including from the Catholic Church, to help guide the direction of the technology.
Pope Leo also warned against AI-directed weaponry, stating it was “not permissible to entrust lethal” decisions to technology. He further criticised the “just war” theory, describing it as “outdated” and insisting that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable.”
The Pope argued that AI could be worth up to $4.8 trillion by 2033, according to the United Nations, but warned that such wealth could be concentrated in the hands of a few.
“Disarming AI means freeing it from the mentality of ‘armed’ competition,” he wrote, adding that disarming does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity.
He also called for AI to be “human-friendly,” accessible to all, and open to discussion and debate.
The encyclical highlighted concerns over hidden labour behind AI systems, including content moderators and workers involved in rare earth extraction, describing them as being “scarred, injured, and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly.”
He further warned that greater efficiency or innovation must not excuse “a chain of exploitation that remains deliberately hidden,” and urged stronger efforts to reduce AI’s environmental impact and “protect our common home.”
The document, Magnifica Humanitas, was signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of an 1891 encyclical by Leo XIII, which laid the foundations of Church social doctrine during the Industrial Revolution.
The release follows several years of study by the Church on AI-related technologies, including the 2020 “Rome Appeal for an AI Ethic,” which called for technologies that respect human dignity.
