The Vatican released Leo’s first encyclical, signed May 15, 2026, exactly 135 years after Rerum Novarum. The encyclical warns that AI is useful but not neutral because it reflects the values of those who design, finance, train, and deploy it. It warns that AI can erode human judgment by providing instant answers that weaken creativity, discernment, and patience for truth. It warns that AI can simulate care without real relationships, leading vulnerable users to confuse artificial empathy with genuine connection. It warns that AI can deepen inequality through concentrated data, computing power, and regulatory influence. It warns that AI can destabilize democracy by amplifying disinformation and blurring fact and fiction, and it warns that AI can make war easier by speeding lethal decisions and distancing responsibility, stating that no algorithm can make war morally acceptable.
"AI can destabilize democracy by amplifying disinformation and blurring the line between fact and fiction. AI can make war easier by speeding up lethal decisions and distancing humans from responsibility. Leo's starkest line: "No algorithm can make war morally acceptable.""
#catholic-social-teaching #ai-ethics #human-dignity #democracy-and-disinformation #war-and-responsibility
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