The date was May 24, 2000. The algorithm of an online dating service suggested the profile of a woman I might be interested to meet. I e-mailed her. Exactly 26 years and one day later, I found myself sitting next to that woman, now my wife, at the kitchen table as I downloaded a PDF copy of Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical about artificial intelligence to my laptop. I read Magnifica Humanitas for the first time and was struck by how the more things change for us human beings living in a virtual world, the more they stay the same.
When Jesus turns to two of John the Baptist’s disciples, He asks them, “What are you looking for?” (John 1:38). When we go to Google, the cursor blinks at us, as if beckoning the same question, “What are you searching for?” Deep down, we’re all looking for love and fulfilment. Our lives boil down to relationships and the way we interact with one another. Our relationships with our families. Our relationships at work and school. Our relationships with the world around us. And primarily, our relationship with God. From the Iron Age to the Digital Age, there is a fundamental bottom line that never changes when we’re talking about human progress.
Pope Leo writes, “We can embrace the technological progress that alleviates suffering and unlocks new possibilities, provided that we do not abandon the very essence of our humanity, namely the capacity for relationship and love. This leads to a crucial question: if an authentic ‘more than human’ exists, where is it to be found? The Christian faith answers that question by pointing to a fulfilment that does not arise from a technological divinization, but through God’s grace received in Christ” (§ 126).
Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) challenges us to view our individual and collective use of technology through a Gospel lens, applying tried and true principles of Catholic Social Teaching to activities that pervade modern life. Who is my digital neighbor? Are these advancements advancing the common good? How do our actions impact the least among us?
AI impacts us on a daily basis more than we realize. It’s changed the way we order at the drive-thru. How we research school assignments and work reports. How we shop. AI has delivered groundbreaking achievements in science, medicine, and technology. In mere seconds, we can generate text, synthesize code, and create high-quality audio, video, and images. We have self-driving cars, warehouse automation, advancements in farming, and healthcare.
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“These systems often surpass human intelligence in speed and computational capacity, offering tangible benefits across many fields. Yet this power remains entirely tied to data processing. So-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. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate language, behavior and analytical skills, or even simulate empathy and understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom” (99).
Which means responsibility begins with the human beings who are behind the development of AI. Responsibility continues with the human beings who are using AI. Who all need to be mindful of the negative impacts of AI, including those being exploited or left behind as its usage evolves. The Pope addresses a multitude of issues that demand serious consideration and solutions. The ease of cheating and plagiarism in school. Those who lose jobs that are downsized because of AI. Populations that lack access to modern technology. The large consumption of natural resources and environmental concerns that come with data centers. Nefarious uses of AI, such as scams, cyberattacks, and weaponry used for war. Ethics for uses in healthcare, particularly at the beginning and end of life. Thus, the need for just governance, oversight, and regulatory practices over who controls the data and are making the decisions.
Just as his namesake, Leo XIII, highlighted the dignity and rights of workers over productivity and profit during the Industrial Revolution with a landmark encyclical, Rerum Novarum in 1891, Leo XIV calls today for “generous missionaries who are mature in the faith” to “consider the digital world a new continent to be evangelized” (238). Using the dichotomy of two Biblical construction projects, the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the return from Babylon in the Book of Nehemiah, Pope Leo addresses the way the world of AI is being built, and the choices we will make as a society. Babel “was a project conceived without reference to God, supported by a uniformity that eliminated diversity and chose homogenization over communion.” It “sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing” (7). Contrast that with the narrative of Nehemiah, which “shows how the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people all play a part. It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones. Thus, ancient Jerusalem rediscovers a common language — not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role and recognize that their strength comes from the Lord” (8).
How we respond collectively will be shaped by how we respond individually. The Pope invites us all to reflect upon three careful considerations in our personal use of AI.
- “The speed and simplicity with which information, complex analyses, media content and practical assistance can be accessed undoubtedly makes life easier. Yet they can also encourage excessive reliance and the search for ready-made answers, and weaken personal creativity and judgment” (100).
I agree with the Pope that it’s tempting to fall into complacency or laziness and just let AI do the work for us. Often, this becomes easy to spot and call out. In fact, last year Merriam-Webster Dictionary termed the phrase “AI slop” the word of the year, referring to low-quality, low-effort digital content generated quickly to earn money or drive clickbait. It’s one thing when we are scrolling through a feed and laugh at the “slop.” It’s another thing to turn in “slop” for an assignment at work or school. In fact, Pope Leo instructed clergy earlier this year to never use AI to write a homily! I figure many will ask AI to summarize Magnifica Humanitas too without mindfully engaging in it.
- “The apparent objectivity of the responses and suggestions these systems provide can lead us to overlook the fact that they reflect the cultural assumptions of those who designed and trained them, with all their strengths and limitations” (100).
Mom once said that you can’t trust everything you read on the internet. Pope Leo and Mom were right. Consider the source. Who is behind the data? What might be their agenda? It’s not uncommon to stumble upon misinformation purposefully spread. I’ve fallen prey to content that I’d assumed was legitimate and from a reliable Catholic source, only to realize that it was AI-generated halfway through because the teachings were erroneous and nothing that the real speaker would say.
“Disinformation did not begin with AI, yet today it finds a powerful amplifier in AI. The ability to manipulate content, images and videos exposes people to biased or misleading perspectives. Only the shared pursuit of the veracity of facts, perceived as a common good, can provide a solid foundation for just communication” (132).
- Finally, and perhaps back to the core question of our search for love and fulfillment in the digital age, is the simulation of human relationships.
“The artificial imitation of positive human communication — words of advice, empathy, friendship and even love — can be engaging and at times genuinely helpful. However, for less discerning users, it can also be misleading, creating the illusion of a relationship with a real personal subject” (100).
The epidemic of loneliness sends many online where AI lures and entraps those vulnerable to settling for something less than human in that quest for what matters most. Pornography promises a satisfaction it can’t deliver. Bots propose an intimacy they can’t provide. I’ve unfortunately provided pastoral care to multiple people who were scammed into pouring money, trust, and emotion into “relationships” that were never real. We must all establish personal boundaries, use discretion, and good judgement in our online interactions. And strive to emphasize our in-person interactions.
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“Let us cultivate relationships! I invite everyone to cherish places and times where physical presence remains crucial, such as shared meals, Christian community gatherings, time spent with the lonely and serving the poor. These are signs of a humanity that continues to believe that every person’s body is a dwelling place of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit (239).
In an inspiring and hopeful conclusion to the encyclical, Pope Leo encourages us to continue to engage in the world of AI, and to do it with faithfulness to truth, love, justice, and peace.
“For this reason, as a believer among believers, I invite everyone to contemplate, in the face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light also on the era of AI. In Christ, we are called to cooperate in the work of creation, rather than be disinterested observers of technological processes that limit our freedom and responsibility. The dignity inscribed in each of us by the Holy Spirit can also be seen in our capacity to reflect critically, choose and love freely, and form authentic relationships. No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil. Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history. This human face is the fullness toward which history is moving. It is the mystery of ‘recapitulation’: the certainty that the Father has decreed to bring all things, those in heaven and those on earth, back to Christ, the one Head” (233).
The day before the encyclical was released, my boys and I made a visit to see my 101-year-old Grandma. She talked about how she met Grandpa – at the grocery store. She was the cashier. He bagged groceries in her aisle. That wouldn’t happen today. With AI, we scan and bag our own groceries. But then again, she couldn’t have met her Sweetie online like I did either. So maybe it all evens out. Think of all the vast changes she and other centenarians have lived through! Radio was just becoming a thing in 1925. More people still traveled by horse and carriage than automobiles. Yet what mattered most to Grandma last week, and what mattered most to me, would have been the same 101 years ago. The simple hug we shared and the words, “I love you.” As human beings living in a virtual world, it still all comes down to relationships and the way we interact with one another.