Tower of Babel 2.0: Pope warns AI could obscure the human face

By Attila Leitner. The world does not need artificial intelligence that devalues humanity, but rather human intelligence guided by wisdom - Pope Leo XIV said on Friday, receiving members of the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN) at the Vatican. In his address, Leo XIV connected his remarks to the theme of this year's gathering: "Human Dignity and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges, Opportunities and Oversight." "The world does not need artificial intelligence that devalues humanity, but rather human intelligence illuminated by wisdom, political authority guided by conscience, and technological innovation driven by love," the pontiff stated. The Pope stressed that artificial intelligence opens up horizons that previous generations could scarcely have imagined, yet every step forward in technological progress "confronts humanity with a moral question - the question of whether technology helps people to become more fraternal, more responsible toward themselves and toward one another." Leo XIV received the participants of the 17th meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican; the participants traditionally gather in Rome during the final weeks of August. Speaking to the delegation led by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn and Christiaan Alting von Geusau, President of the ICLN, the Pope emphasised that his encyclical beginning with the words Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), published in May, addresses these very same questions. "We must choose between building a new Tower of Babel, where power, efficiency and control obscure the face of the human being, or building a civilisation in which technology serves the integral development of every person" - he quoted passages from the encyclical of Leo XIV. The head of the Church argued that "good legislation" must encourage scientific and technological creativity while simultaneously protecting human rights and civil liberties: "it should protect users from exploitation, safeguard personal data, guarantee transparency in the use of emerging technologies, and ensure that they strengthen democratic institutions." The Pope pointed out that, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, there is a danger of new forms of technological dependency, making poorer nations increasingly vulnerable relative to wealthier ones. He described as a "subtle" instrument of the exercise of power the situation in which algorithms decide who is visible and who must remain invisible, in which digital platforms influence public debate without accountability, and in which the dignity of workers is subordinated to the optimisation of the system. Leo XIV stated that there will thus be a new face to the ancient temptation of power without governance and without service. According to the Pope, if we want a society that guides artificial intelligence with wisdom, and in which hearts are capable of love, compassion, and responsibility, then the family must be the first school of humanity - for it is within the family that we learn that trust precedes calculation, generosity precedes competition, dialogue precedes division, and love precedes power. "Artificial intelligence must never be allowed to dissolve this stem cell of society, reducing people and relationships to data and simulations, flooding the minds of young people with content that distorts their desires, through economic models that render family life precarious." Pope Leo XIV called on the members of the ICLN to promote policies that support marriage and the family, to support parents in their educational mission, and to enable young people to look toward the future with confidence. Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original Hungarian text.