Source: The Guardian

Pope Leo XIV’s major written teaching criticizes artificial intelligence for threats including replacing workers, accelerating war and exploiting the environment, and at a Vatican ceremony honoring the encyclical the pontiff was joined by Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah, prompting debate over a partnership between the Church and a leading AI startup. The juxtaposition of the pope’s emphasis on preserving the dignity of human work with Anthropic’s own labor-market analysis and warnings from its CEO about large-scale white-collar job losses raises questions about alignment between moral teaching and corporate practice. Pete Furlong of the Center for Humane Technology and law professor Paolo Carozza caution that Anthropic’s presence risks producing a superficial, feelgood narrative unless it leads to substantive scrutiny and dialogue among all actors.

Some AI-safety advocates, including Timnit Gebru, criticized the Vatican alliance as “Vatican-washing” and argued the Church should have engaged more directly with exploited data workers and communities harmed by datacentres. The piece notes areas of agreement—both the Church and Anthropic call for red lines on AI use in warfare and rigorous ethical constraints—and records that when Anthropic’s CEO refused certain US government requests around autonomous weapons and mass surveillance it precipitated a feud with the president, after which the Trump administration blacklisted Anthropic and designated it a supply-chain threat, prompting an ongoing court battle. The article also highlights Anthropic’s pro-safety branding, its record $1.6m lobbying spend in Q1 2026, the company’s $50bn infrastructure pledge including datacentres, and the pope’s call for more sustainable data centres and measures to limit environmental impact.