WASHINGTON, United States: US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday praised Pope Leo XIV’s manifesto warning of the risks of artificial intelligence, calling it “profound” and a necessary act of moral leadership in a disruptive AI age.
Vance has close ties to the tech industry, having worked as a venture capitalist before entering politics, and counts Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk among his most prominent backers.
In an encyclical called “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), the first US pope, who has clashed with the White House over the Iran war and its use of religion to justify conflict, set out on Monday a list of warnings about how the technology could impact humanity. Among other dangers he said AI could lead to “new forms of slavery.”
“What I read of it sounds very profound, and the sort of thing that you would expect and hope from a leader of the church,” Vance told NBC News in an interview.
“The thing about morality is that the principles never change, but the way you apply those principles does, because the world changes, right?” Vance added.
