Pope Leo XIV Says AI Poses New Challenges for ‘Human Dignity’

The rising prevalence of synthetic intelligence throughout quite a few industries has been laborious to disregard, even for the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIV, the first-ever US-born pope, addressed the Faculty of Cardinals on Saturday for the primary time for the reason that papal conclave. In his speech, the brand new pope stated synthetic intelligence influenced his resolution to take the identify Leo XIV.

“Sensing myself referred to as to proceed on this similar path, I selected to take the identify Leo XIV. There are totally different causes for this, however primarily as a result of Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’ addressed the social query within the context of the primary nice industrial revolution,” Leo XIV stated. “In our personal day, the Church presents to everybody the treasury of her social instructing in response to a different industrial revolution and to developments within the area of synthetic intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice, and labor.”

Saturday’s tackle is not the primary time the Catholic Church has mirrored on synthetic intelligence.

In January, the Holy See, the governing physique of the Catholic Church, revealed a prolonged observe on the connection between synthetic intelligence and human intelligence. The observe stated the Catholic Church “encourages the development of science, know-how, the humanities, and different types of human endeavor” however sought to handle the “anthropological and moral challenges raised by AI — points which might be notably vital, as one of many objectives of this know-how is to mimic the human intelligence that designed it.”

Leo XIV’s predecessor, Pope Francis, additionally mentioned AI in a January 2024 message revealed by the Holy See.

“The speedy unfold of astonishing improvements, whose workings and potential are past the flexibility of most of us to know and respect, has confirmed each thrilling and disorienting,” Pope Francis stated. “This leads inevitably to deeper questions concerning the nature of human beings, our distinctiveness and the way forward for the species homo sapiens within the age of synthetic intelligence. How can we stay absolutely human and information this cultural transformation to serve a very good goal?”

Pope Francis added, “At the moment in historical past, which dangers turning into wealthy in know-how and poor in humanity, our reflections should start with the human coronary heart.”