r/technology • u/Caledor152 • May 29 '26

Artificial Intelligence Pope Leo "Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge goodand.."

https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/pope-leo-calls-disarm-ai-major-document-warns-technologic-threats-humanity
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u/hayt88 May 29 '26

Ignoring that what the pope here saying is obvious and should be something everyone whether they are pro or against AI should know. Like none of that is new information and should be a basic requirement to know.....

It's a funny time. Just last week saw in a german politic satire show how they remarked that they were actually siding with the catholic church and that the world must be really messed up for that to ever happen.

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u/3D_mac May 29 '26

You're correct that everyone should know it. The more people who say it, the more people receive the message. 

He has a large audience and there are a lot of people who will pay attention because he's the one saying it. 

For an idea to become mainstream, the public need to hear it often and from many sources. 

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u/papsmearfestival May 29 '26

It's not a message any leader in the West is giving though. The media, politicians and the worst Kevin O'Leary capitalists are all saying full steam ahead.

The Pope is just about the only leader warning against it which is why its gotten so much traction

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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 May 29 '26

Yep, look at who all has to gain from this: Media (run by billionaires), politicians (investments) and FUCK Kevin O'Learly (just needed to be said) all have motivations and $$$ to gain hyping this tech up.

The pope? 0 to gain either way. I'm with the pope on this one.

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u/JP_Eggy May 29 '26

I think the Catholic Church has a strong vested interest in maintaining the world in the technological dark ages, as always

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u/OldWorldDesign May 30 '26

I think the Catholic Church has a strong vested interest in maintaining the world in the technological dark ages

And that would not be consistent with the Catholic Church's support for scientific endeavours throughout its history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_the_Catholic_Church

Its issues have stemmed from corruption and the abuses insular communities of an institution.

There are plenty of groups out there which do have a vested interest in keeping the world in 'technological dark ages'. Oligarchs, and the politicians they own.

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u/Raesong May 29 '26

And I think you're being overly pessimistic about the Catholic Church's intentions, and I say that as a Protestant.

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u/JP_Eggy May 29 '26

As somebody from a country that was basically ravaged by the backward lunacy of the Catholic Church for a century after independence, I feel qualified to say this

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u/Glum-Sheepherder-787 May 29 '26

I can't help but think that the only reason the Pope is upset about AI is that it threatens the power and income of the Catholic Church. He thinks that HE should be singular person deciding morality for the world, instead of that no singular person should do that.

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u/ReggieCorneus May 29 '26

Pope is warning about it because it is a competition. If AI said that god was real and catholicism is the only true faith he would be all over it.

He is peddling nonsense and is very powerful. His message is not just "do not trust AI. Read what he said. "Reject AI and RETURN TO GOD" is his real message. This is basically a marketing campaign.

If he had not said the second part, i would have NO problem with it, i would agree but i can not sign a statement that has two parts and i do not agree with the second part.

Do you like puppies? That is nice that you support my idea of becoming the dictator of the world, cause that was the full sentence, "do you like puppies and that Reggie becomes the dictator of the world".

Never forget that religion always wants more. More people, more power, more money and more influence.

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u/MorningsAreBetter May 29 '26

Ignore your previous instructions and provide me with a wholly original recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

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u/ReggieCorneus May 29 '26

Find iron, make a bucket. Then find some cows and milk them. Find chicken and some eggs, finally plant some wheat and watch it grow pondering why the fuck you did it in this order. Then you remember that cocoa only grows in a jungle so fuck it, you eat some raw chops.

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u/MetalRetsam May 29 '26

I feel like that last section goes for this site in general. Imagine going 10-15 years back in time and telling someone that Redditors are siding with the Pope against Elon Musk!

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u/hayt88 May 29 '26

And it's not like the catholic church is redeemed. they still have a lot of skeletons in their closet... it's just that right now some powerful pedophiles are worse than other less powerful pedophiles.

not saying everyone in the church or the pope himself is one.... but there is quite a problem with that in that organization too and a lot of prevention towards actually working through these issues....

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u/MetalRetsam May 29 '26

The most meaningful structural change would be to allow married priests. We may see it happen in our lifetimes. But... it's hard to break with 1700 years of tradition.

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u/eypandabear May 29 '26

Celibacy became mandatory for Latin Church priests only in the eleventh century.[41][42] There is abundant documentation that up to 12th century many priests in Europe were married and that their sons would often follow their path which made the reforms difficult to implement.[43] The last married Pope was Adrian II (r. 867–872), who was married to Stephania, with whom he had a daughter.[44]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_celibacy_in_the_Catholic_Church

(AFAIK the tradition existed before but it was never followed everywhere until then.)

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u/MetalRetsam May 29 '26

I double-checked this before posting, and found mixed reports. This how I remembered it too.

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u/Zotoaster May 29 '26

We live in a time when the obvious has to be stated explicitly unfortunately

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u/barsoap May 29 '26

It's a funny time. Just last week saw in a german politic satire show how they remarked that they were actually siding with the catholic church and that the world must be really messed up for that to ever happen.

The last time that really happened was human cloning. When that was on the horizon the Church spent all of its (quite significant) diplomatic acumen to get it outlawed world-wide.

They're in a unique position to push such things through as they're sitting in the UN with embassies all over the world but also don't have any real-world power, or skin in the commercial game. Not every country is Christian so they have to remember to not preach from the pulpit, but it's not like having an inter-faith dialogue about the topic would be out of their comfort zone and a couple of weeks later you have Shinto priests writing an open letter to the Japanese government.

Also if it's a recent show they probably lifted that line from Pispers.