{"id":2413,"date":"2026-05-27T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/27\/vatican-expert-on-ai-i-wouldnt-have-had-matthew-mcconaughey-and-the-pope-on-the-same-bingo-card\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:45:00","slug":"vatican-expert-on-ai-i-wouldnt-have-had-matthew-mcconaughey-and-the-pope-on-the-same-bingo-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/27\/vatican-expert-on-ai-i-wouldnt-have-had-matthew-mcconaughey-and-the-pope-on-the-same-bingo-card\/","title":{"rendered":"Vatican Expert on AI: \u201cI Wouldn\u2019t Have Had Matthew McConaughey and the Pope on the Same Bingo Card\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tThe advent of AI<\/a> has brought out a host of skeptics in Hollywood, from Guillermo del Toro (\u201cFuck AI\u201d) to the slightly more diplomatic\u00a0Joseph Gordon-Levitt\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cthis new technology could propel a great leap forward in human creativity but only if there\u2019s a system in place that rewards people for their novel creative work\u201d).<\/p>\n

On Monday the movement drew a new celebrity endorser. Standing next to an executive from Anthropic, Pope<\/a> Leo tossed his hat into the AI advocacy ring, releasing a remarkable 42,000-word Encyclical. Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeugarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence<\/em>\u00a0urged an emphasis on humanity over efficiency; it implored that equity not be sacrificed on the altar of automation. \u201cI ask everyone to\u00a0abandon the construction of yet another Tower of Babel and to join forces in building up the common good,\u201d\u00a0he wrote, in the\u00a0savvy, sharply worded document<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How much did the Pontiff sound like a Hollywood artist worried about what AI can do to their work? Plenty. Consider lines like \u201c[AI\u00a0can] encourage excessive reliance and the search for ready-made answers, and weaken personal\u00a0creativity and judgment.\u201d That actually came from the Pope, and it echoed strongly with lines like\u00a0\u201c[people would be] cheating themselves if they use AI instead of finding out what they can actually do,\u201d which\u00a0came<\/a>\u00a0from Hollywood anti-AI activist Justine Bateman.<\/p>\n

Until now, Hollywood figures have been some of the most vocal AI watchdogs. Now a whole new\u00a0personality has entered the mix, one who has major standing with 1.4 billion people globally, giving those in the creative community who are pushing for caution and regulations a whole new tool in their fight.<\/p>\n

So what kind of effect will the Encycical have on the products being built in Hollywood and beyond? To find out, we talked to David Gibson, a former Vatican journalist and longtime papal expert. Gibson \u2014 he currently serves as\u00a0director of Fordham University\u2019s Center on Religion and Culture \u2014\u00a0\u00a0helped us understand<\/a>\u00a0what the real dynamics were in\u00a0Conclave<\/em>\u00a0last Oscar season and just last week penned\u00a0an Opinion piece<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0about the changes wrought by this Pope in areas like AI. He had thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been working my way through the Encyclical. I mean, I was tempted to use an AI summary to do that but, well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You should! Everybody else is.<\/p>\n

It seemed wrong to lean on AI for the very document in which the Pope is saying don\u2019t lean on AI.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs] That\u2019s fair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s start with how big a shock it was that a pope would put out this document, which in some ways feels more like something you\u2019d see from a Hollywood guild than one of the most important religious leaders in the world, who\u2019s not really known for opining on Silicon Valley.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For many, many years that was true. But things really changed in 2013 when Pope Francis came on the scene. Suddenly he was not talking as much about sins of the flesh \u2014 about sexual sins or masturbation or contraception \u2014 but about the\u00a0landlord who cheats his tenant or the boss who underpays his workers. He said \u2018everybody knows where the Church stands on abortion and premarital sex.\u00a0 But climate change is something we don\u2019t talk about and should.\u2019 Because if you want to be pro-life, well, people are dying from pollution and environmental destruction too. \u00a0So this is all coming from that same place.<\/p>\n

Do you see anything different here from what Francis would have put out if he was alive? Or is it just a continuation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s a continuation, but not just from Francis. This all may be relatively new in the modern era. But Leo took his name from [late-19th-century pope] Leo XIII, who wrote in his own Encyclical<\/a>,\u00a0Rerum Novarum, about\u00a0<\/em>what the Industrial Revolution was doing to workers, how it created inequality and exploited them. It started a real labor movement among Catholic groups. So this Leo is doubling down on that. \u00a0The difference is that Leo XIII was writing in 1891, a long time after the Industrial Revolution had started. But the Vatican has been working on [Silicon Valley research] for almost a decade. They\u2019ve really been out in front.<\/p>\n

The grasp of the issues was certainly impressive; this did not come from someone just parroting concerns. When he writes that \u201cethical discernment cannot be limited to asking whether we are using a system for good or bad purposes; it must also examine\u2026the data and models that guide it\u201d\u00a0he\u2019s really making a sophisticated point about how the models are being trained. It\u2019s almost like he\u2019s saying \u2018I can critique you because I understand you.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

And he did it in English!<\/p>\n

Which does not feel like an accident given the language of many tech moguls.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, it certainly does not. This was in many ways aimed at them \u2014 at the five or ten people who control AI. Just like Leo XIII. He was writing to the small handful of robber barons, who were also in the United States.<\/p>\n

I think the tone of this is interesting too \u2014 there\u2019s some sharp wording but it\u2019s not really a condemnation, almost as though he\u2019s conscious of not alienating them. That\u2019s not a restraint \u00a0a pope might have when he\u2019s, say, addressing contraception manufacturers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting. There are some conservative Catholics, like Matthew Walther, who feel the Pope didn\u2019t go far enough, that he should have \u201cexcommunicated\u201d AI. But I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what Leo wanted. He wanted this to be engagement \u2014 invitation, not a condemnation. That\u2019s why he had [Anthropic co-founder] Christopher Olah up there with him at the presentation.<\/p>\n

Some would say that makes the whole thing smack of \u2014 for lack of a better term \u2014 Popewashing. That if a Silicon Valley executive is there while the Pope is talking about regulating AI, the Church is just being used to launder their agenda.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leo has definitely engaged with Silicon Valley a lot, met with their executives, and some people have criticized that. But it\u2019s not the Pope\u2019s style to condemn someone running a business. He also knows that these moguls can just ignore him. Engaging or appearing with them makes it harder to do that.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about the audience \u2014 how does this Encyclical play with the 1.4 billion Catholics around the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know, it\u2019s the kind of thing might resonate as \u2018woke\u2019 in the United States, talking about protecting people from big companies. But American Catholics are only five percent of global Catholicism, and to almost everyone else among the world\u2019s 1.4 billion Catholics it doesn\u2019t resonate that way. For people in the Southern hemisphere, this is manna from heaven \u2014 a lifeline. It\u2019s what they talk about. I don\u2019t think this is really shocking for them. They will agree with a lot of it because they\u2019ve heard it before.<\/p>\n

And what about Catholics or eve non-Catholics in the U.S.? I mean, we haven\u2019t really had a leader talk ths way. Some celebrities, but they\u2019re too polarized. Politicians, but they\u2019ve been all over the map. It seems like the humanist movement in the AI age has needed a voice in America, and the Pope just provided one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that in the case of AI everybody feels like a tsumani is hitting them but no one is really articulating why. And finally we have a world leader who\u2019s articulating it in a powerfully coherent way. Who\u2019s taking a lot of what\u2019s turning over in our minds \u2014 about the threat of jobs lost, about creative destruction, about the destruction of the environment thanks to data centers \u2014 and talking about it. \u00a0People have already been feeling the loss of community and institutions thanks to tech. This is a rallying point for all of that. They don\u2019t need to become Catholic. But they do need to come together. It\u2019s almost a throwback to the Greatest Generation \u2014 about making America great again, but in a real way, not a MAGA way.<\/p>\n

Do you think the Pope can do all that given the, well, fragmentation? The comparison to the labor movements of the late-19th and early-20th century \u2014\u00a0we are so far removed from that spiritually.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are, but yes, I do. People are hungry for action, for leadership, for a return to community and humanity. And not just Catholics. Joyce Carol Oates is out there singing the Pope\u2019s praises on Twitter. Joyce Carol Oates! That tells me how much we need this.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not forget Hollywood, speaking of strange bedfellows. You have Guillermo del Toro condemning AI, Scarlett Johansson speaking out against it, Matthew McConaughey<\/a> trademarking his likeness to fight it. And now this.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I definitely wouldn\u2019t have had Matthew McConaughey and the Pope on the same bingo card (laughs<\/em>). But seriously, this will help the people you mention and their cause. The power of Hollywood celebrities can be superficial \u2014 \u201cI like you, but don\u2019t tell me to drive an electric car.\u201d People feel differently about the Pope. Look, you have a lot of disparate folks who would not be on the same page \u2014 Liz Shuler at the AFL-CIO was high-fiving over this but also some Republican politicians will too. We\u2019re in a different era. And Leo is the common denominator. Not the lowest common denominator \u2014 the highest, who speaks about our humanity and dignity and creativity. That\u2019s what much of Hollywood wants, and that\u2019s what he talk about.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll just all be up against something very powerful.<\/strong>..<\/p>\n

Definitely. Silicon Valley can be like a religion unto itself. They have their own infallibilities, or at least they believe they are infallible. But a lot can change too. Let\u2019s see about the midterms, let\u2019s see about the economy, let\u2019s see about workers forming grassroots unions. And now with Pope Leo on board calling it out. It all might make Silicon Valley sing a different tune. I mean, it\u2019s a gamble. But that\u2019s what I like about Leo. He says \u2018maybe something is a good idea, maybe it\u2019s not, but I\u2019m willing to try.\u2019 Maybe this will read like Popewashing and he\u2019ll look worse for it. Or maybe he\u2019ll show that there\u2019s a better way to do business, that you can do good and do well.<\/p>\n

So you believe this document could help bring about Silicon Valley guardrails and deceleration.
<\/strong>
Well, if there\u2019s one thing the Catholic Church believes in it\u2019s conversion\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The advent of AI has brought out a host of skeptics in Hollywood, from Guillermo del Toro (\u201cFuck AI\u201d) to the slightly more diplomatic\u00a0Joseph Gordon-Levitt\u00a0\u00a0(\u201cthis new technology could propel a great leap forward in human creativity but only if there\u2019s a system in place that rewards people for their novel creative work\u201d). On Monday the movement drew a new celebrity endorser. Standing next to an executive from Anthropic, Pope Leo tossed his hat into the AI advocacy ring, releasing a remarkable 42,000-word Encyclical. Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeugarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence\u00a0urged an emphasis on humanity over efficiency; it implored that equity not be sacrificed on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[319,65,2,1474,1475],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-general-news","category-hollywood","category-matthew-mcconaughey","category-pope"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}