Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence

Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical letter yesterday; it’s entitled Magnifica Humanitas Of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV On Safeguarding the Human Person In the Time of Artificial Intelligence. It is very long and I haven’t been able to read the whole thing; here’s a taste:

It is not possible to provide a single, comprehensive definition of AI. What can be stated, however, is that we must avoid the misconception of equating this type of “intelligence” with that of human beings. These systems merely imitate certain functions of human intelligence. In doing so, they often surpass human intelligence in speed and computational capacity, offering tangible benefits across many fields. Yet this power remains entirely tied to data processing. So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate language, behavior and analytical skills, or even simulate empathy and understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. Even when these tools are described as capable of “learning,” their way of doing so is different from that of a human person. It is not the experience of those who allow themselves to be shaped by life and grow over time through choices, mistakes, forgiveness and fidelity. Rather, it is a form of statistical adaptation based on data and feedback, which can be very effective, but does not imply inner growth.

You can replace “AI”, “tools”, and “systems” in that paragraph with “a certain sort of amoral tech billionaire like Musk, Andreessen, and Thiel” or “a data-driven business focused solely on maximizing shareholder value” and it’s no less true. (“It’s just business.”)

Simon Willison’s notes on the encyclical are interesting; he calls it “some of the clearest writing I’ve seen on the ethics of integrating AI into modern society”. I noted this part as well while skimming through:

For individuals as well as for nations, development is both a duty and a right. Minimum conditions are required for enabling every person and people to flourish in accord with their dignity, without being kept in a state of dependence or excluded from access to necessary goods. Development is truly human when it places people at the center instead of the accumulation of wealth, and when it concerns peoples as well as individuals. Justice demands the recognition of the rights of society and the rights of peoples, and includes a responsibility toward future generations. Development is not truly human if it increases consumption for some while shifting costs and burdens onto others, or relegates entire regions to subordinate roles, preventing them from realizing their full potential.

And:

The use of AI is never a purely technical matter: when it enters processes that affect people’s lives, it touches on rights, opportunities, status and freedom. Important and sensitive decisions — concerning employment, credit, access to public services or even a person’s reputation — risk being fully delegated to automated systems that do not know “compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and above all, the hope that people are able to change,” and can therefore give rise to new forms of exclusion.

The Catholic Church is the Catholic Church, but plain language with some real thought and tradition behind it is welcome in the AI discussion. As Tim Carmody says:

I’ve said it before but it’s something else to watch a gifted author (with a team of talented researchers) discuss AI with the weight of a 2000-year intellectual and moral tradition behind them, both reckoning with that tradition and trying to project far into the future. Very different from “how will this affect Nvidia’s stock price”.

And Chris Xu:

Skimmed the encyclical and was repeatedly struck by how shocking (good) it feels to read a coherent institutional vision / strategy for how to maneuver through These Times rooted in common sense and firm principles. We have been intellectually failed and starved by so many other institutions.

You can read the whole thing in English (and nine other languages) on the Holy See’s website or read a summary.

• artificial intelligence
• Pope Leo XIV
• religion