A Call to “Disarm” AI from Pope Leo XIV

On May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV made history by giving a summary statement of his first encyclical letter at an in-person event at the Vatican. And the title of his encyclical letter:

On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence

During his speech, he spoke about how we needed to "disarm" AI. But when he said this, he wasn't talking about running in fear of the technology or dismantling it. He was saying that all of us need to take a level of responsibility to ensure that the technology doesn't strip away our humanity or the human experience.

To quote his encyclical letter:

… technological progress — valuable in itself — requires careful discernment of the anthropological vision that guides it and the ends it pursues. If technological development advances without a corresponding ethical and social progress, the result may be an increase in means without a growth in humanity: “having more” without “being more.”

He went on to say that the development of AI requires "a twofold commitment: on the one hand, a deepening of scientific research; on the other, the exercise of moral and spiritual discernment." He recognized how powerful the technology can be to advance our society, but without careful oversight, this technology can strip away everything that makes us human.

And during the two-hour presentation and discussion of all of this (the one where the Pope gave his summary speech), it's interesting to note that the co-founder of Anthropic Christopher Olah (who is a self-proclaimed atheist) was also invited to speak. And even Olah acknowledged that commercial and geopolitical pressures have meant that Anthropic and other AI tech companies have possibly been operating in ways that are in conflict with doing the right thing. He suggested that "if we want this technology to go well, it is enormously important that there be people outside …, people who care about things going well, who are paying close attention, who are willing to say hard things, and insist on safety—who are willing to be our earnest, thoughtful critics."

I'm not religious, but I have great respect for any religious leader who is willing to have an open conversation on topics like this and invites those who are not religious themselves to join in on the conversation. In the way that the Pope addressed this topic, he made it clear that everyone needs to take responsibility for how this technology is used, ensuring that it is for the good of all humanity.

To those of us within the publishing industry, I feel that this encyclical letter and his public speech on the topic are very important. If we remove all of the religious overtones associated with his statement, the Pope was effectively asking governments, CEOs, and everyone else in power to take a step back and look at the social picture of this technology. He wasn't asking them to stop progress, but rather to consider the ethical, moral, and sociological aspects to all of this.

Those within the publishing industry have been asking for lawmakers to look at the legal side and to build regulations to help guide the ethical and moral training of AI. And we've been asking for ongoing regulations to ensure that our rights as creatives are protected.

Perhaps with this papal encyclical letter, there might finally be the open dialogue that needs to happen in this arena, rather than Big Tech cutting us out of the conversation.

If you would like to read through the encyclical letter, you can read a copy through the public Vatican archives. And the public lecture can be found on YouTube. (Christopher Olah's speech starts at 49:35, whereas the Pope's address starts at 1:33:00. And I should also point out that both speeches were in English.)