Often I\u2019m asked if I think that the novels of the future will all be written by AI. It\u2019s not so much a question as a provocation. Do I worry that a machine can do what I do, only better? I usually say something like: \u201cNo algorithm is going to write Anna Karenina!\u201d which is also not a real answer.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m grateful to Pope Leo XIV<\/a>, the American pope, for his recently issued letter to the world, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. It\u2019s a long (more than 40,00 words), intelligent and thoughtful encyclical in which the pope addresses the uses and misuses of a rapidly developing technology. Now when someone asks my opinion of AI, I can refer them to the pope\u2019s letter, or at least chapter three.<\/p>\n The encyclical begins with an appropriately biblical reference to the tragic consequences of a breakdown in human communication. Humanity faces a \u201cpivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build a city in which God and humanity dwell together\u201d. What follows is a detailed account of the evolution of the views of Pope Leo\u2019s predecessors, of the Vatican\u2019s ideas about labor, authority, government, science, power and our moral obligation to one another. It cites the work that the church has done in defense of human dignity and freedom.<\/p>\n The third chapter, Technology and Dominance. The Grandeur of Humanity in Light of the Promises of AI, delivers on the promise of the encyclical\u2019s title. In an eloquent (and most often quoted) passage explaining what AI is not, the pope essentially defines what it means to be human. \u201cSo-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean.\u201d AI does not have a moral conscience nor does it show any guiding concern for the greater human good.<\/p>\n The letter proceeds to say the most important and necessary things about what is possibly the greatest threat posed by AI: it can be programmed solely to maximize profit, a situation that can only result in the suffering of the many for the benefit of the few. The pope warns against the \u201cmanipulation of privacy\u201d and the \u201cmisuse of information\u201d, against the uses of an algorithm to manage employment, to control access to public services and credit, and to elevate or damage one\u2019s personal reputation.<\/p>\n Compassion, mercy and forgiveness \u2013 not high on the machine\u2019s list of priorities \u2013 will become obsolete. \u201c\u2018Necessary sacrifices\u2019 may begin to be justified, placing the burden on the most vulnerable in pursuit of the supposed optimization of the species.\u201d If the tools of this new power are placed in the hands of those who already possess wealth and influence, they will be used to elevate the comfort, health and wellbeing of our wealthiest and most privileged citizens.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe pope is not condemning AI outright but rather the way it can be used as a tool of political repression and as a guarantee of worsening economic inequality<\/p>\n As the letter nears its end, the pope calls on us to remain faithful to the truth, to invest in education, to cultivate relationships, to live in justice and peace \u2013 to resist the way in which the new technologies can \u201cexploit the most vulnerable, create new forms of slavery and derive profit from conflict\u201d. What becomes clear is that the pope is not condemning AI outright but rather the way it can be used as a tool of political repression and as a guarantee of worsening economic inequality.<\/p>\n In theory, it\u2019s possible to criticize the encyclical for not going far enough, for not using another biblical metaphor \u2013 the golden calf \u2013 to stigmatize the use of AI because of how it prioritizes cost-saving over spiritual, individual and communal growth. But that ship has already sailed, and there\u2019s not much that Leo XIV \u2013 or any religious leader \u2013 can do to condemn the new advances as a 21st-century form of idolatry.<\/p>\n Even so, the encyclical\u2019s vision of human nature, of the spirit of justice and empathy that needs to prevail, of the essential importance of the highest moral values \u2013 is ultimately so beneficent, so positive, so generous, so inarguably clear about our obligation to protect the weak and the poor that it\u2019s hard to find reasons to dismiss it.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s the scary part. Apparently there\u2019s been a certain amount of blowback from Silicon Valley<\/a>, where the inventors and masters of the latest technology have suggested that the pope doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about.<\/p>\n