Pope and Co-Founder of Anthropic to Launch Pontiff's AI Encyclical on May 25

The U.S. pope's position on AI may become a new flashpoint with the Trump administration

Associated Press

May 21, 2026 — 3 min read

Photo of Pope Leo XIV on Monday, May 17, 2026, by Andrew Medichini/AP

ROME, May 21, 2026 (AP) — Pope Leo XIV and the co-founder of artificial intelligence company Anthropic will launch the pontiff’s first encyclical on May 25, a document on the care of human dignity in the era of AI, the Vatican said Monday.

Anthropic has billed itself as the AI company that puts safety and risk-mitigation at the forefront of its research. As a result, the presence of Anthropic's Christopher Olah at the Vatican is significant, and suggests that the U.S. pope's position on AI will become a new flashpoint with the Trump administration.

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AI Anthropic Pope Leo XIV Christopher Olah Víctor Manuel Fernández Michael Czerny Anna Rowlands Leocadie Lushombo Pietro Parolin Pope Leo XIII Dario Amodei OpenAI Sam Altman China Elon Musk SpaceX xAI Donald Trump AP