Pope Leo XIV has created a study group on artificial intelligence as he prepares to release his first encyclical, which is expected to emphasise the need for an ethics-based approach to the technology that prioritises human dignity and peace. Source: NCR Online.
On Saturday the Vatican said Pope Leo had decided to create the in-house study group because of the acceleration in AI’s use, “its potential effects on human beings and on humanity as a whole (and) the Church’s concern for the dignity of every human being.”
The announcement came a day after Leo signed his encyclical, 135 years to the day after his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, dated his most important encyclical, Rerum Novarum (“Of New Things”).
That document addressed workers’ rights, the limits of capitalism, and the obligations that states and employers owed workers as the Industrial Revolution was underway.
It became the foundation of modern Catholic social thought, and the current pope has already cited it in relation to the AI revolution, which he believes poses the same existential questions that the Industrial Revolution posed over a century ago.
The new encyclical is expected to place the AI question in the context of the Church’s social teaching, which also covers issues such as labour, justice and peace.
Just days after his 2025 election, Pope Leo told the cardinals who made him pope that the Catholic Church owed it to the world to offer the “treasury of its social teaching” to confront the challenges posed by AI on “human dignity, justice and labour”.
Since the AI boom kicked off with ChatGPT’s debut, the technology’s breathtaking capabilities have amazed the world. Tech companies have raced to develop better AI systems even as experts warn of its risks, from existential but far-off threats like rogue AIs running amok to everyday problems like bias in algorithmic hiring systems.
The Vatican has sought to add its voice to the debate, offering ethical guidelines for the application of AI in sectors from warfare to education and healthcare. The underlying call has been that the technology must be used as a tool to complement, and not replace, human intelligence.
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Pope creates artificial intelligence study group as Vatican prepares to release his first encyclical (By Nicole Winfield, AP via NCR Online)
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