Pope Leo Warns AI Could Make Civilization Less Human

Historic Vatican Warning on Artificial Intelligence

Pope Leo XIV made history Monday by becoming the first pontiff to personally present an encyclical, issuing a sweeping 235-page warning about artificial intelligence's potential to make civilization "less human." The document, titled "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity), was signed on May 15—the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's groundbreaking labor encyclical—and formally released May 25, 2026.

When the world's first U.S.-born pope chose his papal name last year, he deliberately invoked Pope Leo XIII, whose landmark 1891 encyclical helped guide the Catholic Church through the Industrial Revolution. The new encyclical frames AI as the new industrial revolution and makes an appeal to "disarm AI" by removing it from military and economic interests.

Tech Industry Partnership Breaks Vatican Tradition

In an unprecedented move, Pope Leo shared the Vatican stage with Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, one of the world's leading AI companies. The firm has recently clashed with the Trump administration after prohibiting the U.S. Department of Defense from using its software for military purposes, raising concerns among some observers about including a major tech company representative at such an event.

The pope himself dispelled any hesitation, thanking Olah for his presence: "What a great sign of hope it is that with our differences we can listen to one another. This interchange clearly bespeaks the gravity of the moment as well as confidence that together we can discern the major questions of our time." Olah called for "informed critics who will tell the labs when we are failing" and "moral voices that the incentives cannot bend."

Warnings About Human Dignity and Democracy

The encyclical warns that artificial intelligence risks widening inequality, weakening democracy and undermining what it means to be human. At its heart is the insistence that human dignity "does not depend on a person's abilities, wealth or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made," but simply by virtue of existing.

Leo expressed particular concern about AI chatbots, writing that the risk is not just that someone might believe they are talking to a person, but that they might lose the desire to seek other people at all. The pontiff warned that artificial intelligence risked hollowing out work, concentrating wealth and reducing people to systems driven by data and efficiency rather than dignity and morality.

A Call for Global Moral Leadership

Olah revealed unsettling discoveries from AI research, noting that scientists find "structures that mirror results from human neuroscience" and "internal states that functionally mirror joy, satisfaction, fear, grief and unease." He urged global institutions to follow the pope's example: "We need more of the world—religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments—to take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction."

As humanity stands at this technological crossroads, Pope Leo's message resonates clearly: "The pressing duty is to remain profoundly human." The encyclical signals the Catholic Church's determination to shape the moral framework for an AI-driven future, establishing a precedent for religious institutions to engage directly with tech leaders on civilization's most pressing challenges.