New Pope Chose His Name Based On AI's Threats To 'Human Dignity' (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0177470557
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/05/12/1959202/new-pope-chose-his-name-based-on-ais-threats-to-human-dignity
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/05/new-pope-chose-his-name-based-on-ais-threats-to-human-dignity/
> Last Thursday, white smoke emerged from a chimney at the Sistine Chapel, signaling that cardinals had [1]elected a new pope . That's a rare event in itself, but one of the many unprecedented aspects of the election of Chicago-born Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV is one of the main reasons he chose his papal name: artificial intelligence. On Saturday, the new pope gave his [2]first address to the College of Cardinals, explaining his name choice as a [3]continuation of Pope Francis' concerns about technological transformation . "Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV," he [4]said during the address. "There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution."
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> In his address, Leo XIV explicitly described "artificial intelligence" developments as "another industrial revolution," positioning himself to address this technological shift as his namesake had done over a century ago. As the head of an ancient religious organization that spans millennia, the pope's talk about AI creates a somewhat head-spinning juxtaposition, but Leo XIV isn't the first pope to focus on defending human dignity in the age of AI. Pope Francis, who died in April, first established AI as a Vatican priority, as we reported [5]in August 2023 when he warned during his 2023 World Day of Peace message that AI should not allow "violence and discrimination to take root." In January of this year, Francis [6]further elaborated on his warnings about AI with reference to a "shadow of evil" that potentially looms over the field in a document called "Antiqua et Nova" (meaning "the old and the new").
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> "Like any product of human creativity, AI can be directed toward positive or negative ends," Francis said in January. "When used in ways that respect human dignity and promote the well-being of individuals and communities, it can contribute positively to the human vocation. Yet, as in all areas where humans are called to make decisions, the shadow of evil also looms here. Where human freedom allows for the possibility of choosing what is wrong, the moral evaluation of this technology will need to take into account how it is directed and used." [...] Just as mechanization disrupted traditional labor in the 1890s, artificial intelligence now potentially threatens employment patterns and human dignity in ways that Pope Leo XIV believes demand similar moral leadership from the church. "In our own day," Leo XIV concluded in his formal address on Saturday, "the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor."
[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-05/cardinal-elected-pope-papal-name.html
[2] https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2025/may/documents/20250510-collegio-cardinalizio.html
[3] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/05/new-pope-chose-his-name-based-on-ais-threats-to-human-dignity/
[4] https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2025/may/documents/20250510-collegio-cardinalizio.html
[5] https://slashdot.org/story/23/08/08/2040251/pope-warns-of-ai-risks-so-violence-and-discrimination-does-not-take-root
[6] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2025/01/28/0083/01166.html
Did you know...? (Score:1)
That the original pope Leo developed his own font...?
Holy shit he's right (Score:1, Troll)
And I mean holy shit literally.
Technological unemployment was a major problem during the two industrial revolutions. It created an enormous amount of social stress and upheaval. They don't teach you about this in high school history. About how we had decades of unemployment following the two industrial revolutions until a combination of new tech and dead working age males got us back to full employment.
If you think the rich and the ruling class haven't realized that they are dependent on you as cons
Nothing new under the sun here (Score:1)
Religion has been preaching against technological progress since as long as there's been religion. Today's scientist was yesterday's heretic.
Thing is, religion usually isn't overly concerned about whether or not you're able to remain gainfully employed. Mostly, the fear is along the lines of that your soul will be damned because you've strayed from the path of God. It's why there's all these rather arbitrary religious taboos over things that really don't cause any actual harm (such as same-sex relationsh
Re: (Score:2)
And since I thought it'd be interesting to get ChatGPT's actual take on this, here it is (edited a bit by me for brevity):
> When it comes to AI, especially something like ChatGPT, you're right to infer that the deeper concern isn’t just about jobs or even misinformation - it's existential. Language models simulate the function of wisdom without divine authority. To a religious institution whose legitimacy hinges on revealed truths, the idea of a secular oracle you can consult 24/7 is unsettling.
> The fear isn’t that people will be replaced by machines at work; it’s that they might be replaced in the pews - turning to technology for answers about life’s meaning, morality, or even comfort, rather than turning to scripture or clergy.
Nobody here is preaching against tech but you (Score:1)
You're doing the same thing to the Pope that everybody here on this damn website does to me. Even when I called you out in my original post for doing it.
Your brain is too locked down so you can't think of any other solution besides burning the machines. At no point did me or the pope say that we wanted to do that but your brain automatically inserts that solution without any thought.
That's because the image of a Luddite is a thought terminating cliche. It's something specifically designed to prevent
Re: (Score:1)
At what point did I say "burn the machines"? I said The Pope is having his little spat over this because the modus operandi of religion has always been in opposition of the new. AI will be used in ways that undermine the church's authority and there's not a damned thing they can do about it, because we've decided with the founding of this country that we desired a separation of powers between church and state (with varying degrees of success at the actual implementation, but I digress).
The Pope is shoutin
Re: (Score:2)
If I described your home as having a "shadow of evil", would you consider that high praise, or perhaps get the impression that I'm not-so-subtly implying my disapproval?
You said (Score:2)
Quote "Religion has been preaching against technological progress since as long as there's been religion".
In other words you're implying that the only solution is to burn the machines. In this case technically you are implying that the pope is the one offering that solution. But he's not. Neither am I.
The pope is just saying that machines need to be used in a way that uplifts all of humanity.
You immediately go to the idea that anyone who questions technological unemployment and negative impacts
Re: (Score:2)
The only "solution" I'm proposing is that The Pope's feelings on AI can be ignored.
Religion should not have the authority to force AI developers, or anyone else for that matter, to do anything. We have elected representatives to make rules for our society, and while The Pope is free to pontificate all he likes over the perceived "evils" of AI gone awry, no one is obligated by force of law to follow his proclamations.
If you think religion gets it right once in awhile and should step in to prevent AI from ta
Re: (Score:3)
Look, I'm an atheist, but ascribing motives to people like the pope with no evidence doesn't really make much sense. The pope is concerned about atheism, yes, but all popes are. It's more likely that he's speaking out against what he feels is the de-humanization of culture and mankind at the hands of AI because he *actually* believes it has the potential to do that, not because the "authority of the church" will be further undermined. He may actually worry about AI's dehumanizing effects because of it's
Re: (Score:2)
The entire point of every religion is to perpetuate the faith. Any good or bad that follows is secondary to that goal.
As for evidence, it's not as if his statements were written in an unbiased, neutral tone. If you can't infer that The Pope has already made up his mind about how he feels about AI, then you might want to have your bias detector checked. But hey, religion has been fooling people for its entire existence, can't exactly compete with that in one afternoon.
Some solutions: scarcity vs. abundance thinking (Score:1)
As I say in my sig: "The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity."
If we develop and/or use AI from a scarcity perspective, it will certainly be our doom. If we develop it and use it from an abundance perspective we might survive and thrive with it.
More on all that by me:
[1]https://pdfernhout.net/beyond-... [pdfernhout.net]
"This article explores the issue of a "Jobless Recovery" mainly from a heterodox economic perspective. It emph
[1] https://pdfernhout.net/beyond-a-jobless-recovery-knol.html
What if they have it wrong? (Score:1)
What if tools like steam engines and AI can create sandboxed virtual realities (Ã la holodeck) in which individuals can explore religions and violence to their hearts' content without affecting anyone who chooses not to be affected by your choices?
Remember how Moriarty got so distracted by practicing evil in his AI world that he thought it was tbe only reality, but everyone outside his program was fine?
Can popes even imagine like that?
Re: (Score:2)
> i'll share some of whatever you're on right now friend
That'd be a Star Trek episode. It's available for streaming on Paramount Plus.
Re: (Score:2)
> Remember how Moriarty got so distracted by practicing evil in his AI world that he thought it was tbe only reality, but everyone outside his program was fine?
No, but I remember him manipulating others into unknowingly live inside his AI world so that he could then surveil them and take control of the real world as soon as an opportunity would present itself.
Re: What if they have it wrong? (Score:1)
How did he know which was real and which was virtual?
Who'd have predicted? (Score:3)
Who'd have predicted that the Butlerian Jihad (of the Dune saga) would have originated with the Catholic Church?
Re:Who'd have predicted? (Score:4, Informative)
Well, it was the Orange Catholic Church, but let's not split hairs.
The previous Leo set the pattern (Score:5, Informative)
For anyone not aware of it, Leo XIII (the 13th) was pope during the industrial revolution. His encyclical document, Rerum Novarum, was written in 1891 and is one of the foundations of Catholic Social Teaching. It is a response to the just grievances of workers during industrialization, and it focuses on the dignity of work and the worker, refuting the ills of both communism and unbridled capitalism. Leo XIII advocated for a human-centric approach to technology and economics that has influenced thinkers for the past 130 years.
Check out a summary here: [1]https://www.catholic.com/encyc... [catholic.com]
And the original document (in English) here: [2]https://www.vatican.va/content... [vatican.va]
[1] https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/rerum-novarum
[2] https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.pdf
Re: (Score:2)
> And the original document (in English) here
Or in summary: Advocating to keep the parts of capitalism which allow man to exploit one another, while placing some guardrails on the system to prevent it from turning into feudalism in every aspect but name. Also, with the period-specific obligatory statements of the church going "respect my authoritah!"
To be entirely fair though, that was a time when The Pope probably couldn't imagine how much wealth would actually be hoarded by the world's highest earners in modern times.
New Pope (Score:2)
How long until the Church goes back to Pope Classic? :-)
Who else didn't know they picked their name? (Score:2)
They are the influencers of pre-tech era I suppose.
Heap of trouble brewing (Score:2)
Elon Musk certainly has or can grift in, legal protection against anyone but his progeny using a capital X in a personal name. Leo XIV is right out.
Re: (Score:1)
I've seen several mentions of this already, and it makes me wonder..
Why do people still not know what a pronoun is?
The man changed names, not pronouns. He's still a dude.