Pope and Anthropic co-founder to launch pontiff’s AI encyclical on May 25

The Vatican announced on Monday that Pope Leo XIV and the co-founder of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic will launch the Pontiff’s first encyclical on May 25, a document focused on the care of human dignity in the era of AI. The presence of Anthropic’s Christopher Olah at the Vatican is significant and suggests that the US Pope’s position on AI could become a new tipping point in relation to the Trump administration.

In February, the Trump administration ordered all US agencies to stop using Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology and imposed other major penalties, following the company’s refusal to allow unrestricted US military use of its AI systems.

Anthropic is currently suing the administration, which it has accused of retaliating legally due to its efforts to impose limits on how its AI technology can be deployed. This time, the Vatican is bringing together an all-star cast for a formal launch in the main Vatican auditorium. Two of its top cardinals—Doctrine chief Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and development chief Cardinal Michael Czerny—will be the main presenters. Olah will be among the lay speakers, along with theologians Anna Rowlands and Leocadie Lushombo.

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Leo XIV signed the document on May 15, 135 years to the day after his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, issued his most important encyclical, Rerum Novarum (“On the Condition of Labour”). That document addressed workers’ rights, the limits of capitalism, and the obligations of states and employers toward workers during the Industrial Revolution.

This encyclical became the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching, and the current Pope has already cited it in relation to the AI revolution, which he believes raises the same existential questions that the Industrial Revolution posed over a century ago. The new encyclical is expected to place the question of AI within the context of the Church’s social teaching, which covers themes such as labor, justice, and peace.