Why I’m grateful to the Pope for his encyclical on AI | Francine Prose
The intelligent and thoughtful encyclical is an important warning of the uses and misuses of a rapidly developing technology. Silicon Valley is wrong to dismiss it.
Article intelligence
Key points
- Pope Leo XIV issued encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas' on AI.
- Encyclical warns about uses and misuses of AI.
- Author uses it as reference for AI discussions.
- Silicon Valley's dismissal is misguided.
Why it matters
This matters because pope Leo XIV issued encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas' on AI.
Technical impact
May affect developer workflows, team collaboration, automation capability, and toolchain choices.
The intelligent and thoughtful encyclical is an important warning of the uses and misuses of a rapidly developing technology. Silicon Valley is wrong to dismiss it
Often I’m asked if I think that the novels of the future will all be written by AI. It’s 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: “No algorithm is going to write Anna Karenina!” which is also not a real answer.
So I’m grateful to Pope Leo XIV, 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’s 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’s letter, or at least chapter three.
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