Citing Gandalf, Pope Leo says we must 'disarm' AI

Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses safeguarding human dignity in the era of artificial intelligence . The Pope called to "disarm" AI and free it "from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death" . The document quotes Gandalf from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, comparing humanity's role in resisting technological dominance to uprooting evil in one's own fields .

Source: Ars Technica | 2026-05-25