New pope chose his name based on AI’s threats to “human dignity” | Pope Leo XIV warns AI could threaten workers as industrial revolution did in the 1800s.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/05/new-pope-chose-his-name-based-on-ais-threats-to-human-dignity/
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From the article: Last Thursday, white smoke emerged from a chimney at the Sistine Chapel, signaling that cardinals had elected a new pope. That’s a rare event in itself, but one of the many unprecedented aspects of the election of Chicago-born Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV is one of the main reasons he chose his papal name: artificial intelligence.
On Saturday, the new pope gave his first address to the College of Cardinals, explaining his name choice as a continuation of Pope Francis’ concerns about technological transformation.
“Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV,” he said during the address. “There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”
In his address, Leo XIV explicitly described “artificial intelligence” developments as “another industrial revolution,” positioning himself to address this technological shift as his namesake had done over a century ago.
As the head of an ancient religious organization that spans millennia, the pope’s talk about AI creates a somewhat head-spinning juxtaposition, but Leo XIV isn’t the first pope to focus on defending human dignity in the age of AI.
When a pope names himself after a warning, maybe it’s time we start listening. This isn’t just about jobs; it’s about what kind of future we’re building
I worry people will misconstrue that sentiment away from what I suspect was its original context and intention. Pope Leo XIV’s words appear to be addressed to threats to labor and human dignity originating from AI, not against AI itself. Given I’ve heard he cleaves decently close to Pope Francis, I hazard there’s a good chance his position will not differ significantly from the position of his predecessor, which is shown [here ](https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-03/pope-francis-minerva-dialogues-technology-artificial-intelligenc.html)(from 2023) and [here ](https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2024/june/documents/20240614-g7-intelligenza-artificiale.html)(from 2024):
>I am convinced that the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning has the potential to contribute in a positive way to the future of humanity.
(From the 2023 citation).
>This likewise applies to artificial intelligence programs. In order for them to be instruments for building up the good and a better tomorrow, they must always be aimed at the good of every human being. They must have an ethical “inspiration”.
(From the 2024 citation).
Another good point of context can be drawn from the reference to Pope Leo XIII. Pope Leo XIII acted less to oppose the industrial revolution and more to establish economic precepts to protect labor and human dignity. If this parallel is precise, then Pope Leo XIV’s attitude towards AI may be similar.
I hazard Pope Leo XIV is more likely to advocate for certain regulations for AI than to condemn it in itself—though I fear the hysteria around AI may cause the Pope’s entirely reasonable and correct concerns to be misconstrued as a blanket condemnation of AI by the media or the public.
Oh, it’s far more than just an AI based statement. Read the [history of the guy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_novarum) he took the name from
It’s a total shot across the bow of corporate America and their treatment of labor
yeah people should be in factories from dusk till dawn, cursed technology stole that from us
At first glance, I thought that the title implied he asked ChatGPT what his pope name should be.
Well I’m glad someone with some authority and influence joins in the discussion, it is a threat for sure
No offense to the BIG P but what would name changing achieve in the face of almost complete displacement of the human workforce?
This point I am making is still rooted in turning a blind eye to the fact that the Industrial Revolution basically coincides with the spread of christianity all over the world.
This is incredible. God Willing, this could be the Pope which sees us through the Singularity. That is such a crazy thought.
Workers are already being threatened (and far worse) on a much larger systemic scale than any other one symptom, by the rich ruling class at the top of our late stage capitalism pyramid.
Sure, they’ll use AI tools against us, but acting like it’s the technology that’s the problem and not deep issues in how our society is structured is playing right into their hands.