If you’d told me 10 years ago, when I was writing about technospirituality and the future of human-machine culture, and it all felt like a very niche conversation, that in 2026 the Pope would be tweeting about AI and the need to safeguard humanity… well, of course I would have believed you. That was kind of the point of Technelegy.
(By the way, I fully appreciate his intention here, but disagree with much of the premise. I have a feeling we’d do more to safeguard humanity by acknowledging how deeply human life and culture have always been shaped by technology — and proceeding accordingly — rather than reinforcing the old trope of humans versus algorithms.)
In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.