Pontiff Pontificates

“So-called 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 … The various kinds of job insecurity, fragmented career paths and automation must not be evaluated solely in terms of efficiency, but in relation to the dignity of the worker, the right to sufficient remuneration and the genuine possibility of participating in society … I ask everyone to abandon the construction of yet another Tower of Babel and to join forces in building up the common good.” Count the Pope among those who are very worried about the rise of artificial intelligence. Magnifica Humanitas is the Pope’s first encyclical — a 42,300-word open letter on the need to put humans at the heart of technological change. (We might need a new data center wing to edit that down to a length modern readers will actually consume.) Main Takeaways From Pope Leo’s Encyclical on AI.

+ From commencement speakers getting booed to the Vatican, AI has some serious negative buzz going. Tech CEOs used to almost brag about what AI would do to the job market. Times have changed. OpenAI’s Altman says AI unlikely to lead to ‘jobs apocalypse.’

+ “What do the numbers really say about the impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market? The answer might surprise you.” A reality check on the AI jobs hysteria. So far, the job market hasn’t seen that big of an impact. But AI is just getting warmed up.

+ Meanwhile, one of the Pope’s worries seems unstoppable. AI warfare is already here. “Even Anthropic seems to think its red lines won’t hold for long. After all, history has proven otherwise.”