Pope Leo takes big shot at Trump over Iran war; calls for ‘disarming’ of AI

Pope Leo XIV published *Magnifica Humanitas*, his first encyclical, warning that unchecked artificial intelligence risks escalating warfare, exploitation, and 'new forms of slavery.' The document, released May 15 at the Vatican alongside AI experts—including Anthropic’s co-founder—declares traditional 'just war' theory outdated in an era of AI-directed weaponry. Leo explicitly condemned entrusting lethal decisions to technology, framing AI’s militarization and surveillance as morally unacceptable and driven by geopolitical or commercial competition. The pope emphasized that 'disarming AI' means preventing it from dominating humanity, not rejecting technology outright. He highlighted the hidden labor behind AI, including content moderators and child miners of rare earth elements, describing their exploitation as unjustifiable. *Magnifica Humanitas* also called for reducing AI’s environmental impact and ensuring its accessibility to all, free from corporate or state monopolies. The Vatican framed the encyclical as a defining intervention in Leo’s papacy, comparing its potential influence to Pope Francis’s 2015 climate manifesto *Laudato Si*. It builds on the Holy See’s 2020 'Rome Appeal for an AI Ethic,' which prioritized human dignity in AI development. The document references cultural touchstones like Plato, Beethoven, and *The Lord of the Rings* to underscore its moral urgency. Experts suggest the encyclical could spark global debate, akin to *Laudato Si*’s impact on climate policy. As governments and corporations race to expand AI—projected to reach a $4.8 trillion industry by 2033—Leo’s call for ethical oversight targets both the technology’s military and economic risks. The Vatican positioned AI ethics as central to modern Catholic social teaching, echoing Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 industrial-era encyclical.