Artificial Intelligence
by Mike James
On May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV released his first papal encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas ("On safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence"). The encyclical deals with safeguarding human dignity against technological dehumanization. Why is the Pope so concerned with the dawning of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) age?
To understand why the Pope has had this document written, it would be prudent for me to give a brief explanation about AI to those of you who may not understand what could be coming in the AI age.
Let me begin with a quote from Ray Kurzweil, an American computer scientist, author, entrepreneur, futurist, and inventor. In his book, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, he says of the Singularity, "It's a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed."
To get a better sense of this and why the Pope may be so concerned, we need to get a basic understanding of what we mean by AI.
Some break down AI into three general categories: Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI).
ANI is the type of AI we have right now. It is also known as "weak AI." These include AI systems trained to carry out specific tasks like voice assistants, chess-playing algorithms, recommendation algorithms (like Netflix or YouTube), and image recommendation systems. These tools can do better than humans in these tasks, but they lack the understanding and consciousness humans possess. Another point with ANI is that it cannot transfer knowledge from one domain to another.
Another popular form of ANI includes the WAMO self-driving cars, which are now working as a taxi service in big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Atlanta.
AGI or "strong AI" on the other hand is a theoretical form of AI that can equal or exceed human capabilities across virtually any intellectual task. AGI would be able to learn, reason, and adapt to new situations.
AGI would possess self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and the ability to transfer skills from one area to another. For example, AGI would teach itself to cook after reading a physics book without needing new programming. An example of this would be a robot that seems to function as a human.
Finally, ASI is a hypothetical stage of machine evolution where AI systems will overtake human intelligence and capabilities in all ways. ASI would be able to possess the capability to self-improve and possess intelligence way beyond humans because it could access all machine knowledge.
An example of this would be the Skynet system in the Terminator movies. In the movies, Skynet was a highly advanced machine system that became self-aware and was able to build cyborgs to try and wipe out humanity.
Now that we have a very general understanding of the different forms of AI, let's consider why the Pope and many spiritual leaders are expressing concern about the future of AI.
In the area of ANI, a spiritual concern could be the fact that ANI will soon be diminishing the availability of many jobs that are now performed by humans.
Think about my earlier example of self-driving vehicles. As this system of ANI is perfected, it will eventually lead to the end of the need for human drivers with Uber, Lyft, and other taxi services. Not having to pay human drivers' wages, health care, etc., will lead to many industries making changes.
The same thing will happen in the trucking industry. They are already testing self-driving trucks.
New jobs will be created to monitor, program, and repair all the self-driving vehicles, but the number of humans that will be needed in these jobs and others will be greatly reduced.
A spiritual ramification of this could be depression and anxiety, as many people will have to learn new job skills. Some futurists also envision that the population of the future will have more free time on their hands. Some say the government and industries will have access to so much wealth that they will pay the population not to work. Will that be a negative thing spiritually, or positive? A lack of ambition and drive with no need for work could be negative, but it could also be positive if we spend more time with family and friends building relationships. Only time will tell how this all plays out.
But there are more dangerous scenarios when we speculate about AGI. One major concern is the development of robotics to such a degree that robots will be indistinguishable from the human population. We already have online chatbots, icons, and animated figures developing friendships and relationships with humans. There is a very real possibility that robots in the future could be used as partners in relationships. Will some men and women begin focusing on fake people instead of real people? Will populations decline? What will this do to us psychologically and spiritually?
But perhaps the greatest concern is related to ASI. In Genesis 1:28, God told man to have dominion over all the creatures that God had created. He also told humanity to be fruitful and multiply. With ASI, the possibility will exist that what humans create with ASI will be able to have dominion over us.
This sounds very similar to the story of Satan trying to usurp the position of God, his Creator (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:13-19). Some believe, according to the Gap Theory, that this led to a reform and recreation of life on earth.
A similar story can be found in Genesis 11 in the Tower of Babel story. This story warns us about human pride, issues with human ambition, and the results that occur when we forget about God.
Perhaps the final outcome in the development of AI will lead to God once again stepping in to usher in His new reality known as the Kingdom of God.
Sources: "Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas," May 15, 2026, The Holy See, www.vatican.va.
The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzweil