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What does it mean to be human, and how will AI affect the world?
These are the questions Pope Leo XIV raises in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, released on May 25.
Matthew Harvey Sanders, CEO of Longbeard and creator of the Catholic artificial intelligence platform Magisterium AI, says the technology is growing faster than people can imagine.
“If you think about it,” Sanders said in an exclusive interview with Crux Now, “the Industrial Revolution basically unfolded over the course of a hundred years; it now looks like this robotics transition may unfold over the course of 10 years.”
“Think about the level of disruption we will receive in 10 years,” he said.
The Catholic tech entrepreneur also thinks that AI, like any technology, can help society in profound ways if it is used properly.
What follows is our interview with Sanders, edited for clarity.
Crux Now: One of the major issues Pope Leo XIV discussed in Magnifica Humanitas was artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is changing society. First of all, can you tell us what people should be concerned about as this new AI revolution happens?
Matthew Harvey Sanders: I think the first thing I would throw out there is that for a lot of people, this technology has been described as just the next thing, right?
And it’s a long continuity of technologies. People have compared the transition we’re going through to the Industrial Revolution, and I think what I would like to say to people is that’s just not true.
We’ve never seen a technology like this before. And to compare it to the Industrial Revolution basically betrays just a lack of understanding of the technology itself.
To give you a comparison: Demis Hassabis, who’s the head of Google Deep Mind and obviously one of the leaders in this technology for a long time, and is closest to the technology, he’s someone I think we should listen to, and he’s also part of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences. He said that the AI and robotics kind of revolution that we’re in right now, this transition is going to be ten times the speed of the Industrial Revolution was at, and ten times the impact.
If you think about it, the Industrial Revolution basically unfolded over the course of a hundred years; it now looks like this robotics transition may unfold over the course of 10 years. Think about the level of disruption we will receive in 10 years.
It’s just important to note that [about] what we’re currently dealing with – which is why it’s so important that people are aware of the current state of the technology – and have a very robust civil conversation about what the technology is, where the technology is likely to take us in two, five, and 10 years, and how do we feel about that?
Do we feel that the most powerful technology ever invented is being developed responsibly? And are we pointing at the right problems as this changing technology in the past.
Looking at the Industrial Revolution: Back then the pope who ruled the Papal States banned it. I mean, he said, “No railways, no uh gaslight, no electronics. Get rid of it. We don’t want it.” Pope Leo doesn’t seem to be taking that kind of attitude towards AI, does he?
No, I I don’t think so. I think he, like Pope Francis, still perceive it as a tool, a very, very powerful tool. A tool can be wielded for good, it can be wielded for bad.
Ultimately, the responsibility of the Church is to form people’s consciences so that they use this technology constructively.
Imagine going back in time, and the popes rejected the printing press, the radio, or the television indefinitely. I think we would all say that would have been a critical miscalculation, given that ultimately those tools were used to serve the mission of the Church. They were fundamental to evangelization.
So, I think there’s a recognition that this technology has to be used to serve the mission of the Church. It’s just a question of how do we responsibly do that?
We need to embrace the technology without threatening human dignity.
What were your impressions on what the pope said about AI?
I was expecting his encyclical to focus more on how will the technology impact humanity?
How is there an opportunity for humanity to basically develop and be better? He’s pointed out that obviously there are some things we have to pay attention to: We have to make sure that this technology is developed responsibly; that we ensure that the resources that are being used to support it are not from people who need them.
But I think the most impactful of the pope’s insights for me was that he had an overall hopeful bent.
Hopefully, if AI and robotics make good on their promise, we’ll have more time for the things that matter in life, and hopefully we can start focusing on developing a closer relationship with God, obviously, but a closer relationship with individuals and communities, and we can kind of rebuild things from the bottom up.
I think what he’s trying to do here is remind people that their dignity doesn’t come from what they do in the GDP economy, what they punch in and punch out to, but their dignity comes from the fact that they’re children of God. And if that’s the case, then there’s an opportunity here to reorient our societies towards that.
He didn’t really get into the religious implications as far as they go for faith and worship. For example, new Churches – from the disciples of Christ to the Mormons – were founded. The Jewish religion had Reform and Conservative Judaism arise, and a different form of Islam arose.
All of this was influenced by the changes that happened due to Industrial Revolution. The world was changing, and some thought that meant religion needed to change. How do you think the AI revolution might impact religion?
There’s no doubt that artificial intelligence will make information more readily available, even more so than the internet. I have no doubt of that.
But this is why I think it makes sense for the pope to be an Augustinian. It’s so important to remind people what this whole civilizational project is supposed to be about, and that we have to get together and think as a species about what a better world looks like.
If we don’t have a clear sense of what we’re using this technology for and what we’re building up this civilization for, there’s a real risk with this technology. And frankly, I think civilization is being hijacked by very persuasive and articulate people who are really good at saying the things we want to hear, but aren’t clear about what those actually mean in practice.
I think AI is a great vehicle for people to get really profound answers, but they have to be taught in this new robotics age that everything they hear from the machine is not necessarily true, just as we eventually came to understand the internet. And so I hope – and this is what we’ve been trying to do, obviously, with Magisterium AI – that when you ask a profound question – or really any question, but I think the profound question is more important – the answer is important, but what’s almost more important is where those answers came from.
If we can be taught to be discerning, we need to ask those questions. That makes sense, but explain to me where that insight came from. Hopefully, that’ll mean we’ll be less likely to be manipulated. The pope reflects a lot on this in his encyclical, noting that people in power may want to use these information systems for their own ends.
Let me talk a little about what the pope said about humanism and how many people are changing their views of what it means to be human. I have seen people advocating that we need more AI friends. People have “internet friends” they have never really met, even if they are real people. How does this affect the way we live our lives?
I think in very profound ways, this is one of the reasons why I think it’s so important that we all kind of collectively share an idea of what a better world looks like, because part of that better world is one in which we’re living in close relationship with other human beings.
We have to understand the value proposition here: Is a thing worth doing, considering human relationships are often messy?
They’re extremely hard if an AI, a chatbot, or eventually a robot – a humanoid robot, an android – is far more accommodating, right? Far, far more obliging. They’re able to address all my seeming needs. Why wouldn’t I opt for this substitute, this facsimile, over the real thing? People need a good reason for that.
I think, ultimately, for us as Christians, the reason is this. Only human beings, as far as we know, are made in the image and likeness of God. And being in relationship with another being made in the image and likeness of God is what God wants. It’s what it’s all about.
If we start to anthropomorphize and believe that the thing we’ve created can eventually re
