I wasn't expecting the Vatican to host one of the more serious AI governance conversations of 2025 — but that's exactly what just happened.
From October 16–17, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences brought together 50 experts: MIT economists, UN tech envoys, Latin American development leaders, AI researchers, international prosecutors. The outcomes were substantive — launching a Latin American AI Network, calling for binding global regulation, requiring human accountability in high-stakes AI decisions, discussing universal basic income.
What Institutions Like the Vatican Bring
They think in centuries, not quarters. They've been wrestling with questions of power, dignity, and human flourishing long enough to recognise patterns Silicon Valley keeps rediscovering.
And we need that perspective. We've built god-like technology governed by engagement metrics and quarterly earnings — surveillance capitalism, addiction by design, algorithms that sort human dignity into "above the API" or "below the API." The phrase "race to the bottom of the brainstem" exists because it's true. AI accelerates all of this.
The Right Question
Every transformative technology reshapes our understanding of human dignity before we finish writing the rules. The printing press democratised knowledge — and enabled propaganda.
The question isn't whether AI should serve human welfare. It's who gets to define welfare when AI is rewriting how we work, think, and organise society.
Moral frameworks and market incentives rarely peacefully coexist. But maybe this time, the conversation is broad enough — and the stakes high enough — that we'll surprise ourselves.
Digital Rerum Novarum: AI at the service of justice and peace — Vatican News →
Originally published on LinkedIn · View discussion →