A Big Reason Why Pope Leo Is So Concerned About AI? Massive Job Losses

When Pope Leo XIV explained his choice of name, he did so in remembrance of Pope Leo XIII, the great Pontiff who published the encyclical Rerum Novarum (On Capital and Labor), which addressed the plight of the working class during the Industrial Revolution. In his document, Leo XIII advocated a Christian solution that differed from both capitalism and socialism. 

Yet it was not just to honor his predecessor that Leo XIV chose his name, but that he intends to do what Leo XIII did with Rerum Novarum and address the revolution of our current age: that of artificial intelligence. 

At a May 12 gathering with journalists, the Holy Father expressly confronted the issue. “In looking at how technology is developing, this mission becomes ever more necessary,” he said. “I am thinking in particular of artificial intelligence, with its immense potential, which nevertheless requires responsibility and discernment in order to ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity. This responsibility concerns everyone in proportion to his or her age and role in society.”

As the industry has exploded over the last few years, governments, businesses and individuals are all struggling with how to tackle the issue. Former American diplomat Alberto Fernandez named AI as one of “The 4 Horsemen of Revolution” that confronts Leo XIV. 

On the surface it might seem odd that the new Holy Father would take such early interest in the subject. After all, he already has to contend with the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East, mass persecutions of Christians in Africa, the continuing fallout of the sex-abuse cases, the legacy of Pope Francis, and a Western society that is increasingly disillusioned by globalization. 

However, the Catholic Church has not only been a major contributor in the discussion around AI, but also that AI presents serious challenges for the Church, in particular, as Leo XIV said, in its social teachings.  

The Church has been acutely following and taking steps to understand the next dynamic of AI for years. 

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI warned scientists of the risks with AI, and since then the Vatican has attended or sponsored numerous conferences on the topic. Earlier this year, Pope Francis released Antiqua et Nova, the first papal document that addressed AI. The focus provided a general outline of the topic and its potential risks. It did not contain a comprehensive or detailed solution to the issue. Instead, such a task will be for Leo XIV. And just this week, the U.S. bishops weighed in.

Antiqua et Nova lists 10 areas where the use of AI should be discussed. But from his remarks and his choice of name, it’s clear that Pope Leo is particularly interested in the effect of AI in the field of labor.

Here, AI is part of the wider movement of automation and mechanization that has replaced jobs previously performed by humans. At a Vatican conference last October, Anthony Granado, associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned, according to an article summary, “One way in which unchecked AI development could harm the dignity of the human person is by replacing large swaths of the workforce without providing any kind of fallback for people put out of work.” 

Further highlighting the seriousness of the issue, one report from Goldman Sachs said AI had the potential to replace the equivalent of 300 million jobs, blue- and white-collar.  

How so, one may ask? Last month, Amazon introduced its new “Vulcan” robot, which comes with an AI-powered sensor that gives the machine the ability to know the right grip and amount of pressure for picking up about 75% of the 1 million items in their warehouses. Able to work for 20 hours at a time, such a device threatens the jobs of warehouse workers who already have had issues with the company. The same situation arises with self-driving trucks, still in early development, which could be devastating to truckers. 

Labor unions are already sounding the alarm. The union AFL-CIO warned that if left unchecked, AI will lead to an “increase [in] economic inequality, curtail our rights and undermine our democracy.” Such phrasing mirrors that of Antiqua et Nova: “If AI is used to replace human workers rather than complement them, there is a ‘substantial risk of disproportionate benefit for the few at the price of the impoverishment of many.’” Franciscan Father Paolo Benanti, a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and one of the Church’s leading experts on AI, said, “What we are seeing right now is not a canary in the coal mine, as much as a vulture trying to eat our carrion,” with regards to the effect of AI on labor. Father Benanti, who advises the Vatican, Italian government and the United Nations on AI, has warned that without proper regulations AI could increase the already-vast wealth inequality around the world. 

With white-collar jobs such as customer service, companies are already using AI “chatbots” as the first line of defense to help customers solve problems. Then there is the field of writing. ChatGPT can already produce a multi-paragraph story outline with just a few lines entered in. In the future, it will likely be able to produce full-fledged script treatments. This concern about the future was a major reason for the 2023 Hollywood writers’ strike. The strike ended with the agreement that AI could not be credited as a writer, used as source material, or undermine a writer’s credit, subject to renegotiation in 2026.

In a particularly ironic twist, AI, the product of computer scientists, is now putting numerous computer scientists out of work. AI companies went from a record 3,000 monthly hires in 2020 to essentially zero in 2024. Microsoft recently said that about 30% of its code is written by AI, which has contributed to the company laying off thousands of workers in 2024 and announcing last month that an additional 6,000 (3% of the entire workforce) would be laid off.   

AI lacks the dramatic physical change of the Industrial Revolution with its transition of society from rural to urban, but it has the potential for a deeper change in human society. It is still too early to gauge how Pope Leo XIV will respond, but he has received praise in the secular media for his early remarks. His early commentary shows he is fully abreast of the revolution and intends for a comprehensive social and theological response to this new variable in human society.