'Magnifica Humanitas': An ethical and moral guide to the challenge of AI and Human

AI is not a morally neutral tool; It matters not only how it is used, but how it is designed, Leo writes in “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,”. Magnifica Humanitas means “Magnificent Humanity” in Latin.

He also warns that “a more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few … In fact, as with every major technological shift, AI tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise and access to data.”

The first encyclical letter of Leo XIV covers a wide range of social issues, focusing heavily on the impacts of AI in the areas of education, the economy, unemployment, work, the development of young people, human trafficking and war.

He proposes the principles of Catholic Social Doctrine — the dignity of the person, the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, solidarity and justice — as guidelines for decision-making and the “criteria for judging whether technologies truly serve humanity or are subjugating it.”

While rejecting dichotomous thinking that pits the opportunities of AI against its risks, or enthusiasm against fear, Leo offers a stark assessment of the technological paradigm the world finds itself in today and describes a path of progress that serves people “or a progress that subjects them to the mentality of power.”

“The risk extends beyond the misuse of certain technologies. More gravely, the pervasive technocratic paradigm in which we are immersed, and that is amplified by the digital revolution and AI, threatens to normalize an anti-human vision,” he writes.

Leo borrows the term, “technocratic paradigm,” from Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, in which, Leo writes, Francis critiqued a paradigm “that seeks to reduce everything to an object to be dominated.”

In that anti-human vision, he continues, “the fullness of life is equated with having more, reducing weakness, eliminating uncertainty and exerting total control. When efficiency becomes the ultimate measure of value, human beings are tempted to see themselves as a project to be optimized rather than as persons called to relationship and communion.”

According to Pope Leo, the central question — safeguarding our humanity — is something everyone should have a role in answering.

He invokes one of his spiritual guides, St. Augustine of Hippo, quoting from “De Civitate Dei” (“The City of God”): “‘Two loves have built two cities: the earthly city, the love of self even to the contempt of God; the heavenly city, the love of God even to the contempt of self.’ As throughout history, these two loves continue to contend for dominance in our hearts today.”