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In his first major document, Pope Leo XIV urged governments to slow the development of artificial intelligence: protect workers' rights and children, keep data ownership out of purely private hands, and cool competition among AI companies. Six national readings, between regulation, tech caution and sovereignty.
In his first major document, the encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas," Pope Leo XIV explicitly calls on governments to slow the development of artificial intelligence and to establish robust legal frameworks backed by independent oversight. The text is built around four themes: protecting workers' rights against automation, children's online safety, ownership of AI data, and the need to ease competition between technology companies.
The document deems it impermissible to delegate lethal and irreversible decisions to automated systems, positioning the Vatican against autonomous weaponry. The presence of a co-founder of Anthropic at the presentation was widely read as a sign that the industry itself takes the appeal seriously. The pope's independence is repeatedly stressed: the first American pontiff, he criticized the war in Iran and drew rebukes from Donald Trump.
The encyclical lands amid a divide between three models of AI governance: the accelerated deregulation pursued by the U.S. administration, the European Union's gradual legislative framing through the AI Act, and the state supervision claimed by China. Addressing 1.4 billion Catholics, the Vatican casts itself as a cross-cutting moral actor. The matter of lethal autonomous weapons echoes debates at the United Nations, where several states defend strict regulation that others have so far blocked.
Reception remains contested. Some actors see the text primarily as a geopolitical signal against deregulation, others as a religious moral authority. Countries deeply engaged in the technological race greet the call to slow down with reserve, while others view it as welcome. Several readings center the text on autonomous weapons, whereas others emphasize the socio-economic stakes of automation.
« Beijing extracts from the papal message what resonates with its own strategic concerns: the warning against uncontrolled technological… »
« London views Pope Leo XIV's encyclical as an unprecedented normative reference point in the global AI regulation debate, particularly… »
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