Pope leo xiv condemns AI 'slop' and calls for human art

Pope Leo XIV has publicly criticized AI 'slop' on X, urging people to support human artists instead. The American Pope stated, 'Algorithms lack the spark of humanity.' This comes amid ongoing discussions about AI and religion, following a New York Times report that detailed Anthropic's failed attempt to convince religious leaders that Claude could possess moral status. The Pope emphasized the need to distinguish human art from machine-generated content, highlighting an ontological difference between the two. In his 42,300-word encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo directly addressed Big Tech and the AI industry, criticizing the exploitation of workers in rare earth element extraction. The encyclical's publication was a key plot point in the Times' report on Anthropic's Vatican engagement. Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, expressed disappointment that the encyclical did not seriously consider AI consciousness. The Pope's stance on AI has been central to his papacy, inspired by the 19th-century Pope Leo. With 1.4 billion Catholics under his leadership, the Pope is now positioning himself as a formidable opponent to the AI industry, calling out what he calls 'AI slop' as it spreads globally.