Vatican Issues AI Encyclical as Anthropic Co-Founder Joins Pope for Governance and Ethics Discussion

As generative AI rapidly permeates work, education, the military and public decision-making, the concentration of algorithmic power, bias and accountability have become central issues in global governance. Continuing the Vatican’s practice of assessing technology through the principles of human dignity and the common good, Pope Leo XIV made AI a central theme of his first encyclical. The effort also brought the Holy See into dialogue with representatives of the technology industry, including Anthropic.

In July 2026, the Vatican released Pope Leo XIV’s first AI encyclical, “The Great Human,” arguing that AI must serve all humanity. It called for an end to digital monopolies, the preservation of human moral oversight and a ban on autonomous weapons. Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah spoke alongside the Pope, warning that concentrating advanced AI in a small number of institutions could deepen power imbalances. The event involved no transaction.