Pope Leo’s encyclical on artificial intelligence has arrived. He offers wisdom to big tech companies, governments, and to you

Since his The first days In office, Pope Leo XIV made talking about artificial intelligence a priority for his papacy. On Monday, he issued his first encyclical under that name Wonderful humanity (which translates to wonderful humanity) – a powerful 42,300-word document calling for regulation of technology and The ethical framework that protects humanity For future generations.

The 70-year-old American pope, a mathematician by training, was elected to the papacy in May 2025 and has made “the protection of humanity in the time of artificial intelligence,” as the encyclical’s subtitle reads, a core principle in his first year in office.

The document’s publication comes at a time when many are already comparing it to the Industrial Revolution in terms of its impact On our work and our ways of life. AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, are growing and improving the capabilities of their models at extraordinary rates, fanning the flames of debate over whether AI will be more beneficial or harmful to society.

In the midst of all this, Pope Leo defines AI as “a valuable tool that requires vigilance,” challenging the concentration of power between technology companies and corporations. Address developers directly at the venues. The document is wide-ranging, calls for caution in deploying AI in warfare and the workplace, and is likely to become a key text as policymakers and technology companies develop their strategies for building and regulating the technology in the coming years.

One message in the text that has already attracted attention is Pope Leo’s call to “disarm artificial intelligence.” While this may seem like a warning against military use of AI, it goes much further than that.

“Disarmament means refuting the assumption that technical power automatically confers the right to rule,” the Pope writes. “Disarmament does not mean rejecting technology, but rather preventing it from dominating humanity. It means liberating technology from monopolistic control and opening it up for discussion and debate, thus making it human-friendly and returning it to the pluralism of human cultures and ways of life.”

What the Pope’s letter says about our use of artificial intelligence

This encyclical is more than just a message to tech companies and the Catholic Church. Instead, the Pope appears to be addressing all of humanity, prioritizing “the equal dignity of all human beings,” “the supreme value of human rights,” and “building the common good.” For Catholics and non-Catholics alike, Magnifica Humanitas offers ideas for people around the world to rally around as artificial intelligence becomes an increasing presence in our lives.

The Pope warns against allowing those who control artificial intelligence to dictate and impose ethical frameworks for managing the technology. Instead, he says, the ethics of AI should be subject to “shared standards of social justice” and discussed openly among all people. “A more ethical AI is not enough if that ethics is determined by a few people,” he writes. In other words, we should all have a say in the role of AI in our world.

He also has ideas about how to approach our use of artificial intelligence. He says the speed and simplicity of using AI tools may be attractive. But it can “encourage over-reliance and the search for ready-made answers, and impair personal creativity and judgment.”

He adds that AI’s imitation of positive human communication can sometimes be engaging and useful. “However, for less discerning users, it can also be misleading, creating the illusion of a relationship with a real personal subject.” This is particularly risky, he adds, when the tradition of care and support occurs in contexts that lack real human connections.

“Here,” the Pope wrote, “the danger is not that a person believes that he is communicating with another person, but that he may gradually lose the desire to form real human relationships.”