Vatican City (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV will release on Monday his long-awaited manifesto on artificial intelligence (AI), a bid to address ethical and social challenges as the technology rapidly develops worldwide.
The US pope will attend the presentation of the "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity) encyclical at the Vatican in person -- a first for the Catholic Church.
He will be joined not only by officials from the Holy See but experts including the co-founder of the American startup Anthropic, a key player in the booming AI landscape.
Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field, saying that "delegating decisions concerning the life and death of human beings to machines" is a "destructive spiral".
Since his election a year ago as the Church's first US pope, he has repeatedly warned of the dangers of AI, including "the gradual replacement of reality by its simulation".
'Wake-up call'
AI could be worth up to $4.8 trillion (4.13 trillion euros) by 2033, a 25-fold increase in a decade, according to the UN.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last year warned "the window is closing to shape AI -- for peace, for justice, for humanity".
Leo has made the hot-button issue a cornerstone of his papacy in dedicating to it his first encyclical -- a document which lays the basis for Church teaching and longer-term debate.
Experts say "Magnifica Humanitas" could prove as influential as Pope Francis's "Laudato Si", a 2015 climate manifesto that triggered political and civic reactions worldwide.
The Vatican sees this new text as an extension of its social teachings on "protecting people in the AI era".
It was signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of a 1891 encyclical by Leo XIII which laid the foundations of the Church's social doctrine during the Industrial Revolution.
'Perception of reality'
Leo has emphasised the need for "digital literacy... to understand how algorithms shape our perception of reality."
The release of "Magnificent Humanity" follows several years of study by the Church of AI-related technologies.
As early as 2020, the Holy See launched the "Rome Appeal for an AI Ethic", which called for new technologies to respect human dignity.
Leo's predecessor Pope Francis spoke extensively on the subject, calling for AI to be regulated and warning that it could exacerbate inequalities.