Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical on Monday, entitled Magnifica Humanitas (The Magnificence of the Human Person).

The roughly 42,300-word declaration, issued as a papal encyclical, warned, "The fight against new forms of slavery is a decisive test for the ethical discernment of AI and digital transformation."

"If technology promises emancipation, yet produces new forms of global subordination, it stands in contradiction to the fundamental principle of human dignity," the pontiff explained in the encyclical, while urging governments to regulate the private companies driving AI advances and warning that the pursuit of profit cannot justify mass job losses.

The pontiff called for retraining and protections for working-class folks threatened by AI-related job loss, stronger education to help students understand AI risks, and safeguards against violent, sexualized, or fake AI-generated content targeting children.

His strongest warning came on the military use of AI. Leo said AI risks making life-and-death decisions faster, more impersonal, and easier to justify, especially as cyberattacks, influence campaigns, AI kill chains, and hybrid warfare blur the line between defense and aggression.

At the event earlier today, where the pontiff unveiled the encyclical, attendees included prominent cardinals and theologians, as well as Christopher Olah, a co-founder of the left-leaning AI startup Anthropic, who leads its interpretability team.

The pope said the church and Anthropic will cooperate to "find a path for humanity in the age of artificial intelligence" ... 

To note, encyclicals are among the highest forms of teaching from a pope to the Catholic Church's 1.4 billion members worldwide.

The full text can be viewed here.

Odd that the pope bashes AI but aligns with lefty Anthropic ... 

How much Anthropic does the Vatican Bank own?