Race Towards Paradise or the Abyss? Ethics, AI and the Future of Humanity

Insights from an article by Dietrich Werner, Globethics President, May 2025.

An Invitation from the Roman Catholic Church to Address AI’s Escalating Technological Revolution

The forthcoming encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (English: 'Magnificent humanity') by Pope Leo XIV may become one of the defining moral documents of the early twenty-first century.

The Roman Catholic Church enters this moment not as a technical actor, nor merely as a cautious observer, but as a civilisational voice seeking to place ethical limits on the accelerating transformation of humanity itself.

AI’s Rapid Transformation of Society

Artificial intelligence systems are rapidly reshaping economies, communication, warfare, education, medicine, finance, governance, and the structure of labour.

Governments compete for technological dominance. Corporations race to build increasingly autonomous systems. Militaries integrate AI into strategic planning and weapons development.

Meanwhile, billions of people experience growing uncertainty regarding employment, privacy, truth, and even the meaning of human creativity.

A New “Rerum Novarum” for the AI Age

Much as Rerum Novarum responded to the social dislocations of the Industrial Revolution in 1891, Magnifica Humanitas is expected to address the profound anthropological and moral disruptions emerging from the AI revolution in 2026.

This comparison is neither accidental nor exaggerated. The Industrial Revolution transformed the external conditions of labour and production. Artificial intelligence now threatens to transform the internal understanding of what it means to think, to decide, to create, and ultimately to be human.

Beyond Tech Optimism: Defending Human Dignity

The Church does not appear interested in condemning artificial intelligence as inherently evil. Nor does it accept the increasingly influential ideology that technological progress automatically constitutes moral progress.

This distinction is essential. To the modern technological imagination, if something can be built, commercialised, scaled, and monetised, then society is expected to adapt accordingly.

In this environment, speed itself becomes a cultural value. Slowing down appears irrational. Reflection appears inefficient. Moral hesitation becomes framed as resistance to progress.

The Vatican's intervention challenges precisely this logic. Magnifica Humanitas is expected to defend human dignity as the governing principle of technological development. This perspective promotes a richer understanding of the person — one rooted in moral freedom, relationality, spiritual depth, conscience, responsibility, and transcendence. Artificial intelligence may serve humanity, but it must never redefine humanity according to technological standards alone.

The Hidden Risks of Algorithmic Society

When societies increasingly rely on algorithmic systems, persons risk being understood less as moral subjects and more as behavioural profiles. Human complexity becomes compressed into datasets. Ambiguity, forgiveness, moral growth, spontaneity, and personal transformation become difficult to integrate into systems designed primarily for prediction and optimisation.

This may become one of the encyclical's most important contributions: the defense of mystery, interiority, and transcendence in an age increasingly dominated by quantification.

AI in War and Environmental Responsibility

The encyclical is also expected to address autonomous weapons systems, AI-assisted targeting, and algorithmic military decision-making.

An equally urgent concern is ecological. In the spirit of Laudato Si', the encyclical may argue that ethical governance of artificial intelligence must include strict reflection on sustainability, moderation, intergenerational justice, and the responsible stewardship of planetary resources.

Technological development is not destiny. Human societies may still decide which forms of innovation serve authentic human flourishing and which threaten it.

A Global Invitation to Ethical Dialogue

Through Magnifica Humanitas, the Church is attempting to position itself not as a technophobic institution resisting modernity, but as a global moral interlocutor — inviting religious communities, philosophers, scientists, policymakers, educators, and civil society institutions into the conversation. Importantly, this invitation extends beyond Christianity. Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and secular humanist traditions all possess ethical resources relevant to questions of technological power, human dignity, responsibility, and social justice.

The deeper significance of the encyclical may lie not in offering definitive technical solutions, but in reminding the world that the central question of the AI age is not simply what machines can do, but what human beings should become. Humanity must remain morally greater than the systems it creates.

Strengthening Multistakeholder Engagement with Globethics

The international discussion surrounding Magnifica Humanitas is particularly relevant to the work of Globethics. The evolving UNESCO discourse on AI ethics reflects many of the same concerns regarding human dignity, social justice, citizen empowerment, and ethical accountability. Through its engagement in international multistakeholder dialogue — including leadership within the UNESCO Global CSO and Academic Network on AI Ethics subgroup for citizen empowerment — Globethics contributes to bridges between religious communities, academic institutions, civil society actors, and global governance structures.

The anticipated encyclical may therefore reinforce a growing international consensus that the future governance of artificial intelligence cannot remain exclusively in the hands of states and technology corporations, but must actively include citizens, ethical traditions, educational institutions, and globally diverse cultural perspectives.

For further insights, read the full paper here.