Seeing Pope Leo XIV’s AI Encyclical Through A Jewish Lens
(ANALYSIS) Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical entitled “Magnifica Humanitas” warns readers of the opportune dangers of a technocratic digital sphere.
As Silicon Valley continues to harp on its goals of human optimization with messianic bravado, the Chicago-born papal leader articulated the Catholic Church's perspective on the lack of guardrails for artificial intelligence and the detrimental future implications of such conditions, should they persist.
Utilizing Biblical allusion and Catholic values of truth, humility and community, the Pope Leo claims that the health of the planet, the civic public square and even the family unit are all at stake.
READ: Being Religious May Help You Live A Longer And Healthier Life
He warned readers of the totalitarian pipeline, in which truth exists as a pricey novelty imposed by a private enterprise rather than as a human right in the public commons to be discussed for the common good. Due to its provocation and resonance, particularly amongst younger, “chronically-online” audiences, the pope’s encyclical is circulating outside of the Catholic community. It has also gained the attention of the Jewish community, among other faiths.
The pope referred to two Biblical scenes symbolizing foiled portents for the future: the “self-affirming” story of Babel without safeguards on AI and the communal effort exemplified in the rebuilding of Jerusalem with healthy regulation of the technology.
The pope explained that in order to rebuild the world in community, or what the Jewish tradition refers to as tikkun olam, a public, transparent understanding of truth is vital. In his introduction, he establishes that AI’s consistent augmentation of reality and blurring of truth with fiction “sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing.”
He then urged for inclusion in the building of technological development to emulate the effort of the collective in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Jewish scholarship continues a legacy of this communal model of truth-seeking and questioning of centralized authority. Both in principle and practice, Jewish tradition deeply aligns with the values outlined in the pope’s call for digital vigilance.
To this day, Torah study is done in groups that split off in pairs called chevrutas, translated to “companionship.” It is a practical tradition that dates back to the Tannaim sages in 220 CE. Rather than merely memorizing liturgy, participants are encouraged to develop interpretations, questions and opinions on text for discussion.
The didactic discovery of the group chevruta study is a key pillar of Judaism, as it is a divinely human process. Each student’s opinion varies, based on lived experience. This model of learning instills the principles Pope Leo XIV argues are under threat and must be preserved.
At its core, the letter grapples with both the fatal flaw and brilliance of the human condition: our untethered curiosity. It is the same force informing much of the groundbreaking research behind this imminent technology, “optimizing” human processes. Chapter 3 of the encyclical claims that humanity is becoming “a victim of its own achievements” — a phenomenon fueled by a hubris that almost feels reverently Biblical, despite its manifestation in this contemporary context.
In Jewish belief, this distinctly-human urge, or as Immanuel Kant puts it, “self-imposed immaturity,” separates humanity from the Divine. Immaturity, however, implies the concept of a future maturation process, induced by palpable experience and excluding any computational rigging or other attempt to authentically possess it.
Similar to the encyclical, the fundamental principles of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) lay the groundwork to protect humankind’s delicate proximity to holiness. The order of the Ten Sefirot (divine attributes of the universe) illustrates the boundary between the mundane and holy: Keter (crown) is situated above the head, closest to God, as the ultimate mediator between the finite and the infinite. Keter represents the desire of knowledge and intentional posturing to learn, connecting us closer to the Divine.
Kabbalist scholar Gershom Scholem describes the energy of keter as a “primal” stirring, suggesting it is a prelinguistic urge or desire to emerge from “self-imposed immaturity” that makes us innately human. Data-processing technology like AI, imitates and replicates the grain of the human voice, physical vessel of the body and conscience in this process of God-reaching.
Pope Leo XIV also affirmed such sentiment, detailing unique aspects of living that inorganic code can never fundamentally undergo, such as feeling joy or pain, the maturation process, or how to interpret the meaning of love or connection. Experiences all of which, he argues, are required to earn “moral conscience.”
Kabbalists believe keter can be harnessed to access divine energy. Wrestling with the inexplicable urge to gain experience and live is the gateway to spiritual righteousness. While data can optimize, it will never grapple with that feeling.
Yael Bright is a multimedia culture and religion beat journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.