Pax Christi members respond to Magnifica Humanitas

Last month, Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, On safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.

We invited a few Pax Christi members to reflect on the encyclical and share their thoughts. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below, or send them to jcoode@paxchristiusa.org.

Use this link to read Johnny Zokovitch’s most recent essay which focuses on Magnifica Humanitas.

JULY 14, 7-8:30 PM: Building a civilization of love, a webinar on Magnifica Humanitas, with panelists Prasad Venugopal; Pax Christi Young Adult Caucus member Jessica Sun; and Eli McCarthy. Use this link to register.

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Pope Leo’s assertion that the “just war theory…is now outdated,” is a statement not only about the misuse of that tradition “to justify any kind of war,” but also about the dramatically changing nature of war, especially in an age of Artificial Intelligence. “No algorithm can make war morally acceptable,” he wrote. AI lowers the threshold for resorting to war and makes it more impersonal, but does not make war just. The new encyclical continues in the direction of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti to expose the fiction of a “just war” with the truth about a culture of power that is normalizing war and “fueling a false realism that insists there is no alternative.” But in recognizing the power and effectiveness of nonviolent tools for “promoting human life and resolving conflict” Pope Leo joins millions of others around the world, including in the U.S., who see hope in the proven effectiveness of nonviolent strategies for protecting democracy, transforming conflict, and legitimate defense. —

Marie Dennis, director of Pax Christi International’s Catholic Institute for Nonviolence
and Pax Christi USA’s 2022 Teacher of Peace

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Pope Leo XIV has given us a historic opportunity to transform today’s predominant culture of power into a civilization of love and peace. The encyclical has a refreshingly straight-forward style that indicates its American author. In the first two chapters, Pope Leo presents the principles of Catholic Social Teaching that are most relevant to this new industrial revolution powered by the meteoric spread of artificial intelligence (AI). He then summarizes how pervasively AI is impacting so many aspects of humanity’s daily living. I found it alarming that “all of us, including those who design [AI systems], possess only a limited understanding of their actual functioning.” (no. 98)

His repeated mentions of human dignity (103 times), the common good (82 times), and discernment (27 times) make it easy for us to grasp the encyclical’s essential elements. But make no mistake, this is a major plea for peace. While much of the news coverage of the encyclical has focused on Pope Leo’s analysis of artificial intelligence, he begins the fifth and final chapter saying, “we must now turn our attention to the yet more tragic issue of war.” (no. 182)

When I first read that the Pope had called the “just war” theory outdated (no. 192), I expected a significant discussion of nonviolence, but the word is not even mentioned. There is also a section of the utilization of AI in weapons systems (no. 197-200). Importantly, he goes far beyond the menace of AI to the root causes of the contagion of violence spreading throughout the globe: the underlying culture of power and an insidious “resignation of the inevitability of war” (no. 205). To counteract such evils, Pope Leo calls on every member of the human family: “We all have our own areas for action, and it is precisely there — and nowhere else — that we must choose whether to fuel the mentality of force (even if only through indifference, cynicism, lies or hatred), or to preserve the mindset of peace (with truth, moderation, closeness and care).” (no. 212) He describes “five paths toward daily and public responsibility,” essentially a program for peace that every person can act on. (nos. 214-223)

I’m looking forward to reading this encyclical again to better understand how the Spirit is calling us to respond to this daunting challenge: how will we normalize peace?

Jim Thomas, Pax Christi Pacific Northwest

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As a software engineer by trade and incoming postulant to consecrated religious life, I was thankful for much of the intent in Magnifica Humanitas. However, I was struck by the hypocrisy of who the Vatican was consulting and centering.

When I was graduating college, the only then-”Big 5” tech company I was barely ethically willing to sell my labor to was Microsoft. During my internship at Microsoft in 2018, I saw the company shut down the protests of employees over the sale of Microsoft technology to ICE. We do not have to accept a present where tech is used to hoard wealth, funneling power and resources into the hands of the few. Dr. Timnit Gebru is an embodied example of the heroism of a Big Tech whistleblower, one who put everything on the line to raise the alarm. Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI and Research Institute, and co-founder of Black in AI. Prior to that, she was fired by Google in December 2020 for raising issues of discrimination in the workplace, where she was serving as co-lead of the Ethical AI research team. 

Here is an excerpt from Gebru’s first thoughts on Magnifica Humanitas: “The Vatican could have told Anthropic to stop stealing data, exploiting labor, killing the environment, deceiving us with anthropomorphic designs and lying about product ‘capabilities.’ Instead they partnered with them, like partnering with the Sackler family to discuss the harms of oxy. The Vatican could have partnered with the exploited data workers fighting for their rights, the people whose water is polluted fighting data centers, or the many other victims around the world. But no, they featured ANTHROPIC, giving them their endorsement with this feature. ‘Vatican washing,’ like greenwashing.”

Dr. Milagros Miceli, Research Lead at the DAIR Institute, is a sociologist and computer scientist who works closely with data worker communities worldwide to interrogate labor conditions and power dynamics in the AI industry. In Miceli’s first thoughts, she sums it up: “Now…it would be refreshing to see a Pope (or any powerful figure) state things many of us have argued for years, such as: ‘A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few’ if he were not saying them while sitting next to one of those very few: Chris Olah. It is hard to believe Leo is unaware of Anthropic’s cooperation with Palantir, or of Claude’s use in Venezuela, Iran, and against migrants in the US. 

It is also hard to imagine that Leo writes about the hidden labor powering AI without knowing that Anthropic outsources much of its data work under conditions very similar to those already exposed in relation to OpenAI and Meta. And the warning about trans- and posthumanism inevitably recalls what Timnit Gebru and Émile P. Torres have written about TESCREAL ideology, from which Anthropic is hardly exempt. Finally, it is difficult to read a text that echoes so many of the things many of us have been saying for at least a decade, while still covering them with a veil of inevitability. As if the only alternative were to imagine an AI aligned with the social doctrine of the Church, without leaving room to ask ourselves if we need AI at all.”

As James Baldwin well said, “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” I pray that the Vatican will do differently.

Jessica Sun, Pax Christi Young Adult Caucus

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As a faithful Catholic, and someone who is fascinated in education and art, the demand and delusion created by generative AI has created a lot of room for concern. The most readily available option that we are presented with is for critical thought to be disregarded, and instant information and decisions to be made for us. It has become all the more difficult to avoid generative AI in our industries, as it has come through like a whirlwind, hard and fast. There were murmurs of the Pope’s encyclical on AI, but now that we have access to Magnifica Humanitas, the reception has become so widely received even beyond the Church Faithful. I see this welcome reception being due to people’s jobs and professions having become so negatively affected by AI implementations. There has been a yearning for thought pieces and ethics that don’t center the bottom dollar of data centers, or abandoning our skills to train AI. Pope Leo draws us in, with upholding the dignity and beauty of the human person to be “accepting the limits and weakness of humanity without considering them an error to be corrected.” (12). What a powerful sentiment to be reminded that our contemporary challenges and fragilities as humans, are not inconveniences or failures – they are opportunities for us to rely on God. Because truthfully, I have found so much more peace in the daily examen and in praying a novena, than if I were to consult chatgpt for advice. Our demand for “certainty” and control has resulted in our abandonment for the mystery of God and the common good. 

This letter speaks to the power of intent behind technology. Pope Leo prompts us to consider our culture of utilization and industrialization. Because our pollution goes beyond factory emissions that affect our environments, but has led to growing inequalities, distrust of governments and economic pressures. (41) We have a responsibility to shape our judgement, to increase our own voice, instead of relying on exploitative and vapid technologies. The convenience and instantaneity of these services are not worth the bright minds, and natural environments they are displacing, ones that are so much more creative and closely speaking to the heart of Christ. I am inspired by Pope Leo’s reflection and I close with this quote – 

“Let us love justice and peace! The same technologies that facilitate communication and access to resources can also support models that exploit the most vulnerable, create new forms of slavery and derive profit from conflict. Every technical or economic decision should include spiritual discernment and be an opportunity for assessing whether the advances in AI are promoting justice and participation or concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a select few…We proclaim a hope rooted in the One who came down from heaven to “create a new story here below.” For this reason, those who believe are committed to ensuring that a greater justice will take the place of inequality, and that the industry of war will be replaced by the craft of peace.” (240) 

Let us be moved by these promptings to trust in the Creator of knowledge and wisdom, and to trust in God’s wisdom over efficiency, and in Truth over immediate results.

Hannah Johns, Pax Christi Young Adult Caucus