The Pope, AI regulation, and the job-killer

How AI and public affairs collided this week

This newsletter began as a way to share how I use AI in public affairs. While it’s since broadened to cover politics, regulation, and other power dynamics, AI continues to reshape our workweek, every day. That’s why I’m back with a curated roundup of the stories that matter most to public affairs pros.

Let me know what you think of this format, and I’ll look at doing this on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

Let’s get to it!

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Pope Leo says AI threatens humanity

Pope Leo XIV is sounding the alarm on artificial intelligence, calling it a disruptive force that threatens human dignity, justice, and labor — and demanding global regulation to rein in Big Tech.

Why it matters: Pope Leo is placing the Catholic Church at the heart of the global tech ethics debate. It’s a rare and powerful intervention from a global moral authority, and adds a heavy-hitting weight to the growing calls for increased oversight of AI.

Catch up quick:

• The Vatican hosted a summit with execs from IBM, Cohere, Anthropic, and Palantir this week.

• In this written statement to the conference attendees, the Pope added, “Together with its extraordinary potential to benefit the human family, the rapid development of AI also raises deeper questions concerning the proper use of such technology in generating a more authentically just and human global society.”

• He is seen to be continuing Pope Francis’ push for AI ethics, but with deeper tech fluency and stronger urgency.

• Microsoft President Brad Smith is slated to meet with Vatican officials this month; Google is negotiating a future audience.

My take: AI players are in a double arms-race: the first is to capture market share, the second is to stop restrictive government oversight of AI. (see the third story, below) Having the Pope onside would help. Having him offside? It could give momentum to movements calling for stiff and urgent regulation of the industry.

What to expect: AI governance is entering the moral and political mainstream — expect more advocacy campaigns from both sides of the regulatory divide.

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