{"id":8808,"date":"2026-05-27T13:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T13:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/?p=8808"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:47:50","slug":"pope-leos-magnifica-humanitas-ai-must-serve-humanity-not-concentrate-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/?p=8808","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo\u2019s \u2018Magnifica humanitas\u2019: AI must serve humanity not concentrate power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pope Leo the XIV <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/pope\/news\/2026-05\/pope-leo-xiv-encyclical-magnifica-humanitas-ai.html\">just released<\/a> an encyclical on artificial intelligence, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/leo-xiv\/en\/encyclicals\/documents\/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Magnifica humanitas:<\/em>&nbsp;<em>On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence<\/em><\/a>. The encyclical was released on the 135th anniversary of the encyclical <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/leo-xiii\/en\/encyclicals\/documents\/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html\">Rerum Novarum: On Capital and Human Labor<\/a><\/em> by his namesake pope, Leo XIII.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two are clearly meant to be connected. Magnifica humanitas, or &#8220;magnificent humanity&#8221; doesn&#8217;t paint AI as either good or bad, or for that matter, neutral. It is about humans making choices that safeguard (or not) our dignity (and magnificence.) I rather like the emphasis on our magnificence and the suggestion and AI could be one of our great deeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The encyclical identifies 5 principles that are not the usual principles for AI as they are principles of Social Doctrine with application to AI:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Common good<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Universal destination of good (that not all goods be concentrated in the hands of the few)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Subsidiarity (that have shared responsibility, not paternalistic welfare)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Solidarity (that we care for others and future generations)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social justice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The encyclical is long and deals with a number of issues including the need for dialogue. You can read a summary on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/pope\/news\/2026-05\/pope-leo-xiv-encyclical-magnifica-humanitas-ai.html\">Vatican news web site here<\/a>. The New York Times has an article on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/25\/us\/pope-leo-encyclical-highlights.html?unlocked_article_code=1.llA.19Bf.kf-ZK2ZoACSb&amp;smid=url-share\">Main Takeaways From Pope Leo\u2019s Encyclical on A.I.<\/a> and one on how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/26\/technology\/pope-leo-ai-religion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.llA.ckHC.j3M58rg43twf&amp;smid=url-share\">At the Epicenter of A.I., Pope Leo\u2019s Warnings Are Dismissed<\/a>. This last article captures the attitude of some that &#8220;no one outside of Silicon Valley understands AI and therefore we don&#8217;t need to listen to them.&#8221; No need for dialogue with others when you think you are magnificent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pope Leo the XIV just released an encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica humanitas:&nbsp;On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. The encyclical was released on the 135th anniversary of the encyclical Rerum Novarum: On Capital and Human Labor by his namesake pope, Leo XIII. The two are clearly meant to be connected. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/?p=8808\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pope Leo\u2019s \u2018Magnifica humanitas\u2019: AI must serve humanity not concentrate power<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,58,80,11,27,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-ethics-of-data-science","category-history","category-internet-culture-and-technology","category-media-and-news","category-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8808"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8811,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8808\/revisions\/8811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}