Magnificent humanity

Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, titled "Magnificent Humanity", has just been published. It's dedicated to AI. This is probably the first time in the history of the Church that such a document has been issued specifically regarding artificial intelligence.

I can't call myself a very religious person, but I wanted to write about this for several reasons. I'm glad the Church is addressing this topic, publishing its perspective - a perspective through faith - on a new technology that is changing the world at a terrifying pace.

I want to know the Pope's point of view on this matter. Especially a Pope who comes from the country from which AI essentially went out into the world in a consumer dimension. From where it reached every home with internet access.

I haven't read it yet. For now, I'm reading reviews, quotes from the encyclical, and opinions. I plan to read it, but I already wanted to draw attention to a certain sequence of events and observations.

Since AI has been entering our lives more and more boldly, rearranging them on successive levels, I find myself increasingly reflecting on the role of humans in a modern world managed by advanced technologies. And I get the impression that I'm not the only person wondering about this.

I also notice a fatigue with the topic of AI among more and more people, even though it's still a new technology. It seems to me that this fatigue doesn't stem from the technology itself, but from the fact that it turns existing values upside down and shifts the human being to a different position than they previously occupied. Perhaps we are facing a world where the machine stands at the centre of attention, with people surrounding it. No longer as powerful as the machine. Until now, it was the human who stood at the centre, and technology served them as a tool.

I recently read a sentence (I'm not sure if I'm quoting it literally): Humans used to use apps, but today apps use humans.

It seems we are becoming a somewhat lost society in this new deal of the cards, trying to find a place for ourselves. And here we return to the Church, which might point that place out to us.

I don't intend to evangelise anyone here. But I will share another reflection and observation. A few weeks ago in France, a record number of baptisms was set. They were received by adults. The peak occurred at Easter. It was a symbolic day. A special time and the most important holiday for Catholics.

Why are people turning back to the Church? Maybe because they are searching for themselves in this increasingly digital world? Maybe because they want to understand something again? To put their lives back together? A life that has been shattered into a thousand pieces like a mirror in recent years?

And perhaps, in this chaos of everyday life, humans need to find timeless principles? Some signpost that clearly points the way? Some sign or words that will calm unsettled emotions, comfort, lift the spirit, and give hope?

Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on AI bears the telling title: "Magnifica humanitas (Magnificent Humanity)". Because humanity is magnificent. In its imperfection. That is what makes it so unique and unsurpassed, even for the most advanced machines. So difficult to replace. And machines want to reduce this spirit of humanity to a handful of digits, formulas, and efficiency. They want to replace it. To convince us that humanity means nothing. That it is a weakness and a flaw.

Perhaps we have entered a time of struggle and searching. A struggle to preserve humanity in a world of machines, but also a search for that humanity in a digital world managed by big tech companies trying to impose inhuman rules on us solely in the pursuit of profit. At the expense of the human being. At the expense of humanity.

So, where is this humanity? What is it? And why are we searching for it more and more often in times when we are supposedly getting closer to AGI, which is meant to replace even God himself?

I don't know if I will find the answers to these questions in Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, but I will certainly be looking for them.