Pope Leo XIV Calls for AI Disarmament and Warns of New Slavery

TL;DR: Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical demands the disarming of artificial intelligence and warns that its expansion fuels modern forms of slavery.

Context On May 15, Pope Leo XIV presented *Magnifica Humanitas*, his first encyclical, at the Vatican alongside AI experts such as Anthropic’s co‑founder. The document marks the Catholic Church’s first formal stance on artificial intelligence, echoing earlier moral teachings while confronting a rapidly evolving tech landscape.

Key Facts The pope declared that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable,” rejecting the notion that autonomous weapons can be justified under any version of “just war” theory. He framed AI’s current trajectory as a “race for ever more powerful algorithms and larger datasets” driven by geopolitical and commercial ambitions. The Vatican stresses that disarming AI does not mean abandoning technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity.

United Nations projections estimate AI’s market value could reach $4.8 trillion by 2033—a 25‑fold increase over ten years—while profits remain concentrated among a limited elite. Leo warned that this growth masks a hidden chain of exploitation: content moderators forced to view disturbing material, children mining rare earth elements, and other laborers “scarred, injured and worn down” to keep computational flow uninterrupted. He linked these conditions to new forms of slavery that accompany the AI boom.

Anthropic, the U.S. firm cited at the Vatican event, is currently in a legal dispute with the U.S. military over the use of its technology for lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, illustrating the real‑world tension between ethical AI development and state interests.

What It Means The encyclical positions the Vatican as a moral counterweight to industry and government pushes for AI weaponization. By calling for “disarming” AI, Leo XIV urges policymakers to separate lethal decision‑making from algorithmic systems and to enforce transparency in data practices. The document also demands broader access to “human‑friendly” AI, urging open debate and stricter regulation of supply‑chain labor.

If the Vatican’s moral authority translates into diplomatic pressure, we may see new international norms governing autonomous weapons and labor standards in AI supply chains. Watch for reactions from the United Nations, major AI firms, and national defense ministries in the coming months.