Pope to Release AI Encyclical; Anthropic Co-founder to Speak

Pope Leo XIV will publish his first papal encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” on May 25 at the Vatican. The document addresses protection of human dignity as artificial intelligence reshapes work and society. Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah is scheduled to appear at the launch as a lay presenter.

The encyclical carries the subtitle “On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” The pope signed the document on May 15, a date chosen to coincide with the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum on capital and labor.

On May 16 the pope approved a Vatican commission on AI ethics that will include representatives from seven dicasteries. Cardinal Michael Czerny described the commission as charged to “address AI challenges inside the Holy See and for the wider Church.”

Christopher Olah will speak at the encyclical launch. He co-founded Anthropic and leads the company’s work on model interpretability, which develops methods to explain how large language models reach outputs. Vatican organizers positioned his appearance as a technical contribution to the ethical and moral discussion surrounding AI.

Anthropic’s flagship model, Claude, is among the large language models whose behavior and decision-making processes are central to debates about transparency, safety and accountability. Organizers say Olah’s presence brings a technical perspective to those debates at the Vatican event.

Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost and the first American pope, will address attendees and deliver a final blessing at the end of the presentation. Recent popes have not typically appeared onstage for encyclical launches.

The new Vatican commission will study AI-related risks and propose responses for operations within the Holy See and for the global Catholic community. By aligning the encyclical’s publication date with the anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the Vatican reflects a historical link between earlier industrial-era changes and current digital transformations.