(OSV News) -- The May 25 speech of Anthropic's co-founder Christopher Olah at the presentation of the first encyclical of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV ended with a special request: "We need more of the world -- religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments -- to do what His Holiness has done here: to take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction."
Olah, sitting in the Synodal Hall for the presentation of "Magnifica Humanitas," Pope Leo's encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence, said the world of technology needs "informed critics who will tell the labs when we are failing," and "moral voices that the incentives cannot bend."
"Today is just the beginning," he said, "the start of a long collaboration between those of us who are building this and those who can see what we, from inside, cannot."
He said the event "is a powerful illustration of the form this global project of goodwill might take. Let it also be a decisive first step toward a hopeful future for magnificent humanity," he said.
His speech, while humble and open to collaboration on ethical dimensions, also showed stark differences between the realities of the industry and what Pope Leo asked in the encyclical.
Olah admitted that as he was sitting in the same room with the pope, these words "may sound strange coming from the co-founder of an AI company -- and someone who chose this work out of a desire to help things go well for humankind," but every frontier AI lab, he said, including his own, "operates inside a set of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing."
The incentives -- geopolitical, commercial or research-oriented -- influence the industry, he explained.
Three challenges have emerged as immediate in the world of AI, he said.
First, "there is a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at a very large scale."
If that happens, Olah said, "supporting those displaced will be a moral imperative of historic proportions."
Pope Leo wrote in "Magnifica Humanitas" that the dignity of work at a time of digital transition is of fundamental concern.
"The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good," Pope Leo wrote.
"For young people, job insecurity is particularly devastating. ... When access to work is hindered ... many young people find the path to their human and professional fulfillment blocked."
The task of keeping jobs "will be difficult enough," Olah said May 25 at the Vatican, "but I worry most dialogue misses an even harder challenge," he added.
"AI development is concentrated in a handful of wealthy nations. How can we ensure the gains of AI are shared globally?" Olah asked. "We do not have a mechanism for this. It is an unsolved problem, and it is the kind of problem the Church has historically refused to let the world ignore."
In fact, Pope Leo wrote in his encyclical that "protecting freedom of men against commercialization" is an urgent task.
"When business models thrive on human weakness, the person is treated as a means rather than as an end," the pope said, stressing that "if technology becomes the ultimate criterion, the human person risks being reduced to data, a cog in a machine or a commodity."
"It is not enough for artificial intelligence to make us more efficient or connected; it must also serve to build a universal human family, with shared rights and duties," Pope Leo wrote, stressing that the Church is called to be "capable of listening to the cry of the poor, migrants and victims of new forms of slavery."
Olah said another challenge is "the need for moral imagination and ambition regarding human flourishing."
If AI models are going to be widespread, he said, the question remains open on "what does it look like for humans, families and the world to flourish?"
Today, Olah said, "parents are already worried about their children's minds; individuals about the future of their work. These are not questions a lab can answer. They are questions traditions like yours have carried for millennia, and we need you to keep carrying them into this new moment in history."
The encyclical outlines the severe psychological and social harms of early and unsupervised digital exposure, which can negatively impact sleep, attention spans and emotional control, while opening the door to online exploitation, cyberbullying and manipulation by AI tools.
Acknowledging the immense pressure on the modern family, the pope conceded that "it is difficult for parents by themselves to resist the influence of business models that monetize attention and time."
Because of that, he called for an "alliance among policy-makers, educational institutions and families that is capable of concretely supporting adults in this task."
Olah pointed out the third challenge of "the nature of AI models."
"I am a scientist," he said, "I lead a research team that studies the internal structure of these models -- what is actually happening inside them. And I will be honest: we keep finding things that are mysterious, even unsettling," he said, pointing out that researchers find "structures that mirror results from human neuroscience. We find evidence of introspection. We find internal states that functionally mirror joy, satisfaction, fear, grief and unease. I don't know what that means, but I think it warrants ongoing discernment."
"If we want this technology to go well," he pointed out, "it is enormously important that there be people outside those incentives -- people who care about things going well, who are paying close attention, who are willing to say hard things, who are willing to be our earnest, thoughtful, critics," Olah said before bowing his head for the papal blessing.
The pope thanked Olah for his presence at the presentation and "accepting our invitation in turn in the name of the church."
"I accept your invitation to walk together, to listen and to speak, and together to find a way for humanity in this time of artificial intelligence," the pope said.
"What a great sign of hope it is that with our differences we can listen to one another. This interchange clearly bespeaks the gravity of the moment as well as confidence that together we can discern the major questions of our time," Pope Leo stressed.
"At key moments in history, the Church is called to decipher the new things in the light of the Gospel and the dignity of the human being."
