Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical takes up one of the most urgent questions of our time: how artificial intelligence is reshaping our lives and how it can be wielded for the common good. Framing AI as both an opportunity and a potential threat, Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence urges a renewed commitment to ethical reflection, social justice, and human dignity in applying the technology.
To better understand the significance of the document, Fordham Now spoke with David Gibson, director of Fordham’s Center on Religion and Culture and a leading commentator on the papacy.
The encyclical uses the word “dignity” 100 times. Why do you think that’s such an important theme for the church in the age of AI?
Since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the church has changed its stance toward the world, looking to engage, encourage, and grow in mutual understanding. That requires a shared vocabulary and concepts, and human dignity is a foundational term. It is also the foundational concept of this encyclical, because our humanity is what AI is threatening.
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