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Pope Leo XIV's AI Regulation Encyclical
Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas' calling for robust government regulation of AI systems, warning of 'new forms of slavery' and advocating for slowing AI development. The document criticizes the Trump administration's 'just war' doctrine and reflects input from tech executives who lobbied Vatican officials ahead of its release. The encyclical marks a major institutional critique of AI's societal impacts.
Sources
- Pope Leo warns that AI challenges must be confronted with regulation, transparency in his 1st encyclical
- Pope calls for ‘disarming’ of AI, technology should be ‘human friendly’
- A section of the Pope's encyclical describing AI's unpredictability suggests influence from Anthropic, whose co-founder Christopher Olah attended the unveiling (Washington Post)
- In the ~43,000-word text, the Pope urged governments to slow down the development of AI systems and decried "new forms of slavery" of people tending AI systems (Joshua McElwee/Reuters)
- Pope Leo XIV presents his encyclical on AI, calling for regulation of AI companies, protection for children against hypersexualized AI images, and more (New York Times)
- The Vatican vs. killer robots: Pope Leo XIV takes aim at AI warfare
- Magnifica Humanitas (Encyclical Letter)
- Silicon Valley takes its AI pitch to the pope