Pope Leo XIV called for the regulation of artificial intelligence to ensure it is used for the common good rather than profit in his first encyclical, released on Monday, titled “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.”Marking the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum on Monday, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, which was highly anticipated since he was selected to become the first American pope following the death of Pope Francis last year. The document focuses primarily on the rise of artificial intelligence and the threats it poses to humanity if not properly regulated.While technology is “not inherently evil,” it is “never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it,” Leo wrote, adding that “it is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.”
“It is not enough to invoke a generic type of ethics,” the pope wrote. “Concrete criteria for discernment must be established. The first such criterion concerns personal responsibility. When a decision to strike becomes automated or opaque, the risk of abdicating responsibility increases. For this reason, the chain of responsibility must be identifiable and verifiable; those who design, train, authorize and employ technology must be held accountable for their decisions.”
