Religion Unplugged

Pope Leo XIV Declares AI The Moral Crisis Of The Modern Age

Guardian

Pope Leo denounces culture of power driving rise of AI

Fox5Sandiego

Pope calls for robust regulation of AI in manifesto that ponders the future of humanity

Reuters

Pope, urging AI regulation, warns some weapons now beyond human control

Ncronline

Pope Leo calls to 'disarm' AI in major document, warns of technologic threats to humanity

Pope Leo warns AI is fueling conflict, urges world to slow advances

Vatican News

Pope Leos Magnifica humanitas: AI must serve humanity not concentrate power

Financial Times

Pope Leo says AI ‘needs to be disarmed’

PJ Media

Pope’s ‘Study Group’ Will Tackle AI: What Did We Do Now?

European Conservative

Pope Leos Crusade Against AI

MartinSelmayr

Guzik_Paulina

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Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026)

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Date of Artificial General Intelligence

Elon Musk

Rishi Sunak

Kamala Harris

Bill Gates

Andrew Ng

Yoshua Bengio

Fei-Fei Li

Demis Hassabis

Melanie Mitchell

Sam Altman

Dario Amodei

Geoffrey Hinton

Yann LeCun

Gary Marcus

Max Tegmark

Connor Leahy

Eliezer Yudkowsky

Jaan Tallinn

Marc Andreessen

Eric Schmidt

Norbert Wiener

Arthur Clarke

Irving John Good

Claude Shannon

Hans Moravec

John Smart

There's a "wall of fear-mongering and doomerism" in the AI world right now.

"Worrying about AI today is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars."

Concerns that AI could pose a threat to humanity is "preposterously ridiculous."

Claiming AI poses an existential threat is "such an extreme" and risks "wip[ing] out some of its potential benefits."

"I'm more concerned about... the risks that are here and now [than the existential threat of AI]."

Current AI is "not anywhere close" to posing an existential threat but it could in the future.

AI is the "biggest existential threat" to humanity.

AGI's worst-case scenario would be "lights-out for all of us."

Powerful AI systems "taking control" pose an "existential threat."

AI has a "10 to 25 per cent" chance of destroying humanity.

"The most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI... is that literally everyone on Earth will die."

Does AI Pose an Existential Threat to Humanity?

Stuart Russell

Shane Legg

Society is more likely to get "cat-level" or "dog-level" AI years before human-level AI.

"[W]e will eventually reach AGI... and quite possibly before the end of this century."

"Superhuman AIs" will be achieved "between a few years and a couple of decades."

"Digital intelligence" could overtake us within "5 to 20 years."

We may achieve "something like AGI or AGI-like in the next decade."

"[W]e could get to real AGI in the next decade."

"Human-level" AI could occur in "two or three years."

"I'd be surprised if we don't have AGI by [2029]."

Will AI Surpass Human Intelligence, and When?

Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity), on May 25, calling for robust regulation of AI and warning against concentrating technological power in the hands of a few private actors.

Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity), on May 25, calling for robust regulation of AI and warning against concentrating technological power in the hands of a few private actors.

The document, spanning nearly 43,000 words and divided into five chapters, was signed on May 15 — the 135th anniversary of "Rerum Novarum," the encyclical by Pope Leo XIII that addressed workers' rights during the Industrial Revolution.

The document, spanning nearly 43,000 words and divided into five chapters, was signed on May 15 — the 135th anniversary of "Rerum Novarum," the encyclical by Pope Leo XIII that addressed workers' rights during the Industrial Revolution.

Leo declared that entrusting lethal or irreversible decisions to AI systems is "not permissible" and said the Catholic Church's "just war" theory is now "outdated" given advances in warfare technology.

Leo declared that entrusting lethal or irreversible decisions to AI systems is "not permissible" and said the Catholic Church's "just war" theory is now "outdated" given advances in warfare technology.

The Vatican presentation was attended by Christopher Olah, co-founder of AI firm Anthropic, who said there is "a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at a very large scale" and that outside scrutiny of AI companies is essential.

The Vatican presentation was attended by Christopher Olah, co-founder of AI firm Anthropic, who said there is "a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at a very large scale" and that outside scrutiny of AI companies is essential.

Leo issued the first papal apology explicitly from the institutional church for the Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery, writing "for this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon" and describing it as "a wound in Christian memory."

Leo issued the first papal apology explicitly from the institutional church for the Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery, writing "for this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon" and describing it as "a wound in Christian memory."

The encyclical links the AI economy to "new forms of slavery," citing the labor of millions engaged in data labeling and rare earth mineral extraction, and warns that AI-fueled disinformation weakens democracy and that "indifference to the truth leads, slowly but surely, to a descent into totalitarianism."

The encyclical links the AI economy to "new forms of slavery," citing the labor of millions engaged in data labeling and rare earth mineral extraction, and warns that AI-fueled disinformation weakens democracy and that "indifference to the truth leads, slowly but surely, to a descent into totalitarianism."

Pope Leo XIV's First Encyclical Demands AI Regulation

Pope Leo denouncesXIV's ‘cultureFirst ofEncyclical power’Demands drivingAI rise of AIRegulation

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Li

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Pope Leo XIV's First Encyclical Demands AI Regulation

Pope Leo denouncesXIV's ‘cultureFirst ofEncyclical power’Demands drivingAI rise of AIRegulation

The Controversies

Andreessen

Ng

LeCun

Mitchell

Li

Bengio

Musk

Altman

Hinton

Amodei

Yudkowsky

LeCun

Marcus

Bengio

Hinton

Hassabis

Altman

Amodei

Musk

Go Deeper

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