Pope Leo manifesto: World leaders should be ‘slowing things down’ on AI

Pope Leo XIV on Monday warned about the risks posed by AI in his first encyclical. 

In the manifesto, titled “Magnifica Humanitas,” the pontiff wrote that policymakers must address the widespread availability of the emerging technology with “clarity to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power.”

Throughout his papacy, the first U.S.-born pope has sounded the alarm over AI and its impact on children and workers. In his first address to cardinals after succeeding the late Pope Francis last May, Leo said that the technology presents “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

In his encyclical, he referenced Pope Leo XIII, whom he referred to as his “beloved predecessor.” The Catholic Church is celebrating the 135th anniversary of that pontiff’s encyclical, titled “Rerum Novarum” and published in 1891, which called for safeguarding the rights of workers amid the second Industrial Revolution. 

While the pontiff wrote that technology “should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity,” society must ensure that newly-available tools are “oriented toward the good.”

He added, “New technologies open up a horizon extending in directions that are imaginable but not yet fully predictable. This complicates the assessment of their potential impact and the long-term effects they may have on both the dignity of individuals and the common good.”

As for how to address AI, the pope highlighted the need to “openly” discuss ethical frameworks regarding the technology to ensure that a select few do not control how it is applied. 

“Calling for prudence, rigorous evaluation and even, at times, a slower pace in adopting AI does not mean opposing progress; instead, it is an exercise of responsible care for the human family,” he wrote.

“What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating, and of protecting the opportunities for communities still to be able to participate and ask questions,” Leo added. 

Christopher Olah, the co-founder of Anthropic, was in attendance for the Vatican’s launch of the manifesto. Anthropic is engaged in litigation with the Trump administration after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company as a supply chain risk and President Trump directing civilian agencies to stop using Anthropic’s products.

Those moves came after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei demanded that the federal government refrain from using the company’s Claude chatbot for fully autonomous lethal weapons or for the mass surveillance of Americans. 

The White House has been more open to the technology as of recently.

At the Vatican on Monday, Olah welcomed the pontiff’s leadership on AI. 

“We need more of the world — religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments — to do what His Holiness has done here: to take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction,” he said, according to The Associated Press.

Lawmakers in the U.S. on both sides of the aisle have warned about the risks posed by AI, although many in Washington have stressed the need for U.S. companies to keep up with their Chinese counterparts.

Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), on the other hand, has banged the drum in favor of regulating the technology — he and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) even proposed legislation in March to halt construction of new data centers until the federal government implements safeguards. 

The administration, meanwhile, has attempted to unleash U.S. companies in the AI fight against China.