Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical confronts us with the need not to lose sight of the human face of technological innovation by Andrea Galluzzi, 3rd July www.loppiano.it
Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, dedicated to the protection of the human person in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), speaks of us, of the complex era in which we are called to live, and of our relationship with technological innovation. This is because ‘the use of AI is never a purely technical matter’ (MH no. 102), but forms part of processes that permeate every aspect of our lives. Technologies, in fact, reflect who we are, as in a mirror. The way we implement them reveals our intentions, our personality, our way of being and our conception of existence. Today, AI links the technological and the human even more closely and inhabits the boundary line separating the natural from the artificial, reality from simulation, the true from the false, blurring it ever more. How, then, should we interpret these phenomena of our time?
When technology meets the desire for innovation, new possibilities open up, but – as when two opposing currents meet – existential ‘vortices’ are often created that can disorient our worldview, a pattern that is becoming increasingly familiar to us in the age of digital transformation. In this scenario, a useful criterion for identifying the ethical threshold is the ability to discern the reflection of a ‘human face’ in the things and processes we set in motion. The image of the face is, in fact, fundamental to the typically human way of acting and feeling responsible for something. That which has a face is alive and speaks to us; that which does not becomes impersonal, mechanical, and falls into mindless action. Any technology that makes it more difficult to see a human face reflected in the things we create lowers the moral threshold of our sense of responsibility (MH nos. 197–200).
The many phenomena linked to the advent of AI can in fact be reinterpreted as the culmination of a revolution – the digital revolution – which, alongside obvious benefits, has progressively introduced powerful new tools for mediation between each individual and the external world, extending beyond the operational sphere to affect that of inner and transcendent life. AI appears, in fact, to function as a medium that operates not only in the realm of practical applications, but also as a prerequisite for much of the experience driven by automation: from work-related activities to social interactions; from the services we use every day to the analysis of the data that represents us. AI permeates all these spheres, crossing the boundaries between one domain and another, bringing into the digital realm elements we previously thought to be immutably human—such as complex language, creativity and empathy—whilst also channelling personal inner life into these dynamics, with effects that are disorienting for us.
On these issues, the Church’s social teaching does not respond as a static code but allows itself to be challenged by the signs of the times, in a process of discernment that engages in dialogue with science, technology and human knowledge (MH no. 27). Its aim is to guide humanity towards a greater awareness of itself and towards the future it is called to build. Along this path, it becomes clear that the source of our concerns lies not so much in technological evolution as in our progressive inability to govern it and direct it towards the full flourishing of humanity. Hence the call to reflect on the risk of a humanity which, lacking spiritual depth and struggling to cultivate an inner life, risks becoming a victim of its own achievements.
The two biblical images presented in the encyclical – the Tower of Babel and the building of the City of God – offer us a coherent picture of the challenges we face today. On the one hand, the emblem of the human will to power, a project of domination that ultimately dehumanises (MH no. 90); on the other, the need to continue our development guided by higher principles. This is a challenge that has always accompanied the history of the Church, and ‘the age of AI is no exception to this rule: the building of Babel or that of Jerusalem begins within each of us’ (MH no. 134).
Pope Leo’s is therefore a collective call to live out our times with a new awareness, promoting an integral vision of God, of humanity and its creations, because ‘the centre of history remains a human face that asks to be looked upon’ (MH no. 233).
__________________________________________________________
The Author
Andrea Galluzzi is an electronic and computer engineer with a degree in philosophy; his work focuses on the philosophy of technology and the relationship between humans and technoscience. He provides consulting, research, and teaching services in both corporate and academic settings on a wide range of topics related to digital technologies. He is a resident of Loppiano.
His website: www.tedhu.education.