Critics of AI-generated art have a powerful new ally: His Holiness the Bishop of Rome (Episcopus Romanus), Primate of Italy (Primatus Italiae), and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church (Summus Pontifex Ecclesiae Universalis).
In a post on X Friday morning, Pope Leo XIV detailed the spiritual difference between human-generated art and art that is generated by machines, as part of a call to preserve human art from the encroachment of AI.
“In this era of artificial <a href="https://myappsplus.com/redefining-enterprise-intelligence-with-autonomous-ai/” title=”Redefining enterprise intelligence with autonomous AI”>intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce,” the Servus Servorum Dei wrote. “There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity.”
Pope Leo XIV gave a more detailed statement on AI in an encyclical letter in May, which emphasized the importance of human dignity in a world of increasing automation.
But that hasn’t stopped AI companies from lobbying the supreme pontiff. According to a recent New York Times report, Anthropic has actively lobbied the Vatican to reconsider its position on non-human consciousness — apparently finding little success.
