The new Pope picked his name for 'the defense of human dignity' amidst the AI revolution

The newly elected Pope Leo waves to the Vatican crowd. — (Image credit: Alberto Pizzoli via Getty Images)

Wake up babe: new Pope just dropped. Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8 following the death of Pope Francis, becoming the first-ever American Pontiff, and on Saturday gave his first address to the College of Cardinals, where he revealed his choice of name was driven by concerns about our age's technological revolutions and AI specifically (thanks, Ars Technica).

The Pope's name is Robert Prevost, but as is tradition he got to choose a special papal name, and it turns out "Leo" is a callback to the Pope that led the church during the industrial revolution, as well as a nod to Pope Francis's concerns about where technology is going.

This encyclical's title translates as "Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor" and is subtitled "On the conditions of labour." It was issued by Pope Leo XIII in May 1891 to all Catholic worthies, and is something of a broadside aimed at unrestricted capitalism and how its operation must be tempered by moral considerations: it's particularly noted for its depiction of the condition of the working classes.

Pope Francis looking serious. — Pope Francis. (Image credit: Mondadori Portfolio via Getty)

"As in all areas where humans are called to make decisions, the shadow of evil also looms here," said Francis. "Where human freedom allows for the possibility of choosing what is wrong, the moral evaluation of this technology will need to take into account how it is directed and used."

Pope Leo XIV believes that, much as the industrial revolution upended traditional ways of living and working, AI is going to do the same, and not necessarily for the better.

"In our own day," said the Pope, "the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor."

Well, seeing the new Pope take up against AI is an odd one. Leo XIV is presumably going to be leading the Catholic church for decades to come (when he's not playing Wordle) and who knows what developments we'll see from the AI sector in that time. But I, for one, am very much looking forward to Sam Altman being subtly dissed in Latin.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

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