Pope Leo XIV's First Encyclical Addresses AI and New Forms of Slavery

The first Pope from the United States (US) emphasised that while AI can be a valuable tool, artificial intelligence also poses significant dangers to humanity. ‘Artificial intelligence must now be disarmed and freed from the logic that turns it into a tool of domination, exclusion, and death,’ Pope Leo XIV said during a special Vatican presentation on the document, known as an encyclical. Encyclicals are considered authoritative teaching documents issued by a Pope to the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church. ‘Magnifica Humanitas’, which translates to ‘Magnificent Humanity’ in Indonesian, is Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical. The document is the result of years of Church research into AI-related technologies.

AI and Warfare

In the document, Pope Leo XIV specifically criticised the role of rapidly advancing technology in conflict, arguing that AI has made war ‘easier to occur’. The Pope stated that the use of AI in warfare ‘must be subject to strict ethical boundaries’, emphasising that lethal decisions ‘must not’ be delegated to AI systems. Leo stressed that ‘disarming does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity’. AI must be ‘human-friendly’, accessible to all, and open to discussion and debate, he added, lamenting that power is often concentrated in the hands of a few rulers. This means that ‘small, highly influential groups can shape information and consumption patterns, influence democratic processes, and steer economic dynamics for their own benefit’, he wrote. Therefore, it is crucial that AI is strictly regulated and subjected to ‘robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users, and political systems that do not shirk responsibility’, Pope Leo stressed.

The Vatican presentation was attended by AI experts, including Chris Olah, co-founder of US-based AI giant Anthropic. The company is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with the Donald Trump administration over its refusal to grant access to its AI models. During the presentation, Olah acknowledged that AI companies operate ‘within a set of profit-driven motives and constraints, which can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing’. He added that his company welcomes external input from sources such as the Catholic Church to ‘drive progress in a better direction’.

Apology for Slavery

In the encyclical, Pope Leo warned that AI is accompanied by ‘new forms of slavery’, such as content moderators forced to view distressing material, and children mining rare earth minerals essential for the digital economy. ‘These individuals’ bodies are scarred, harmed, and drained to ensure an unceasing flow of data,’ Pope Leo XIV stated. ‘This reality starkly contradicts our contemporary conscience and morality.’ On the occasion, Pope Leo also issued an apology — unprecedented in Vatican history — for the Church’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, calling it a ‘wound in Catholic memory’. He lamented that the Catholic Church only formally, absolutely, and universally rejected slavery in the 19th century. ‘On behalf of the Catholic Church, I sincerely apologise for this,’ Pope Leo XIV wrote.