Pope vs Anthropic: Why 'AI consciousness' is dividing Silicon Valley and Vatican

The dispute points to a much bigger question surrounding the rapid development of AI. A debate over whether artificial intelligence could have something resembling consciousness has put Anthropic, one of the world's leading AI companies, at odds with the Vatican after Pope Leo XIV rejected the idea that machines could replace or surpass human beings.The disagreement surfaced after Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah reviewed the Pope's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas", ahead of its launch at the Vatican. Olah had accepted an invitation to speak at the event on May 25, but reportedly considered pulling Anthropic out after disagreeing with the Pope's position on AI consciousness.The dispute points to a much bigger question surrounding the rapid development of AI. As companies build increasingly capable systems and deploy them in everyday life, there is still disagreement over whether these systems should be understood simply as tools, autonomous agents or something closer to beings.What did Pope Leo XIV say about AIIn his encyclical, Leo warned against allowing technology to become more important than human beings." ... humanity — in all its grandeur and woundedness — must n...