Pope Leo and the co-founder of artificial intelligence company Anthropic will launch the first papal encyclical on May 25, a document on the preservation of human dignity in the age of AI, the Vatican said Monday.
An encyclical is an official letter from the pope to the Roman Catholic bishops, usually providing information on official doctrine.
Christopher Olah’s Anthropic presence in the Vatican is significant, and suggests that the US papacy’s position on AI will be a new model with the Trump administration.
In February, the Trump administration ordered all US agencies to stop using Anthropic AI technology and imposed other major penalties for refusing to allow the US military to use its AI technology without restrictions.
Anthropic is currently suing the government, which it has accused of unlawful retaliation because of its attempt to limit how its AI technology can be used.
Leo, who has made AI a priority for his young papacy, is deeply concerned about AI in war and has called for monitoring of how the technology is used.
