Pope Leo Warns AI Threatens Jobs, War, and Human Dignity

Pope Leo XIV has issued a sweeping first major teaching document of his papacy, an encyclical titled Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), calling for urgent global restraint in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence. Framing AI as one of the defining moral challenges of the modern era, he warned that without stronger oversight, humanity risks deepening inequality, accelerating conflict, and eroding human dignity at scale.

At the core of his message is a call for governments to slow the rapid acceleration of AI systems and ensure that political institutions, rather than private corporations alone, retain meaningful control over their development. He urged robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, and policies that protect workers whose jobs are increasingly threatened by automation. The Pope also emphasized safeguarding children from AI-generated misinformation, violent content, and hypersexualized material, arguing that society has a duty to preserve healthy development in younger generations.

Leo warned that the concentration of AI data and power in private hands poses a serious risk to the public good. He called for greater cooperation between governments, civil society, and industry, stressing that “slowing things down” may sometimes be necessary when technological change is moving too quickly for ethical reflection. He also highlighted education as essential, urging schools to teach critical thinking so users can better navigate

AI-generated information.

A major theme in the encyclical is labor displacement. Leo cautioned that the pursuit of profit cannot justify mass job loss, arguing that societies risk creating what he called a “paradox of material progress and anthropological regression,” where technological advancement coexists with widespread unemployment and social exclusion. He insisted that protecting employment and ensuring retraining opportunities for displaced workers must be a moral priority.

Speaking at the Vatican during the encyclical’s presentation, Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah supported the Pope’s concerns, noting that AI development cannot be left solely to tech companies operating under competitive pressure. He warned of large-scale labor displacement and argued that supporting affected workers would become a moral responsibility of historic proportions. Olah also stressed that the ethical questions raised by AI extend far beyond the engineering community and require input from governments, religious leaders, and broader society.

The Pope also took a strong stance on the military use of AI, stating that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable.” He called for the strictest ethical constraints on autonomous weapons and warned that removing human judgment from lethal decisions lowers the threshold for conflict, making war easier to initiate and more detached from its human consequences. In one of his most direct statements, he rejected traditional interpretations of “just war” theory, arguing that modern warfare technologies risk rendering the doctrine outdated.

Beyond AI, the encyclical addressed global conflict more broadly, lamenting rising instability, weakening international institutions, and what he described as a “violent culture of power.” He warned that leaders may be tempted to use war as a distraction from domestic problems and criticized the economic incentives behind the arms industry.

In a historic and unusually candid section, Pope Leo also issued a formal apology for the Catholic Church’s historical failure to condemn slavery, describing it as a “wound in Christian memory.” He drew a parallel between historical exploitation and modern technological systems, warning against the emergence of “new digital slaveries” in AI supply chains and data labor practices, including unsafe conditions in resource extraction industries that power computing infrastructure.

Throughout the document, Leo repeatedly returned to the idea that AI must remain subordinate to human dignity. He argued that society must not allow technological systems to replace human moral agency, especially in decisions involving work, war, and truth itself. While acknowledging AI’s potential benefits, he insisted that its development must be guided by values that prioritize people over profit and control over convenience.

The encyclical, formally signed on the anniversary of Rerum Novarum, intentionally echoes past Church teachings on industrial labor and social justice, positioning AI as the defining labor and ethical issue of the 21st century. Whether it will influence policymakers or industry leaders remains uncertain, but it has already positioned Pope Leo as one of the most prominent global voices calling for restraint in the AI race.

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Rich, Motoko, Elisabetta Povoledo, and Elizabeth Dias. “Pope Leo XIV Warns of A.I. Risks in First Encyclical.” The New York Times, 25 May 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/world/europe/pope-leo-encyclical.html.

“Pope Leo Warns AI Could Deepen Inequality and Conflict.” BBC News, 25 May 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cedppn6002jo.

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