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Catholic theologian Léocadie Lushombo praised Pope Leo’s ‘prophetic’ inclusion of care for digital workers and encouraged people to ‘care about knowing’ how their use of AI products affects other people.
When most people type a question into an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, it may not occur to them that the speedy and friendly responses they receive could have any connection with sweatshop-style dehumanizing labor. Pope Leo XIV is hoping to make this connection clearer. In Magnifica Humanitas, the new papal encyclical on safeguarding human dignity amid the rise of AI, the Pope vividly highlights “new forms of slavery” that AI is already facilitating, writing that that the benefits of enhanced efficiency and other innovations are not to be celebrated if they are “built on a chain of exploitation that remains deliberately hidden.”
Some experts on the topic welcome the papal intervention, noting that AI-driven exploitation is not only difficult to track, but also hard to get people to care about, given that it typically takes place far away from the places where AI products are most in demand.
In her home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Catholic theologian Léocadie Lushombo has witnessed children and women emerging from cobalt and nickel mines, bathed in toxic dust and doing the backbreaking but largely invisible labor needed to supply the elements necessary for the chips that make countless modern technologies possible, including AI systems.
“It’s an image you can never forget — it breaks your heart," Lushombo told the Register.
Continued below.
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When most people type a question into an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, it may not occur to them that the speedy and friendly responses they receive could have any connection with sweatshop-style dehumanizing labor. Pope Leo XIV is hoping to make this connection clearer. In Magnifica Humanitas, the new papal encyclical on safeguarding human dignity amid the rise of AI, the Pope vividly highlights “new forms of slavery” that AI is already facilitating, writing that that the benefits of enhanced efficiency and other innovations are not to be celebrated if they are “built on a chain of exploitation that remains deliberately hidden.”
Some experts on the topic welcome the papal intervention, noting that AI-driven exploitation is not only difficult to track, but also hard to get people to care about, given that it typically takes place far away from the places where AI products are most in demand.
In her home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Catholic theologian Léocadie Lushombo has witnessed children and women emerging from cobalt and nickel mines, bathed in toxic dust and doing the backbreaking but largely invisible labor needed to supply the elements necessary for the chips that make countless modern technologies possible, including AI systems.
“It’s an image you can never forget — it breaks your heart," Lushombo told the Register.
Continued below.
What Does ChatGPT Have to Do With Slavery? ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ Highlights AI’s Hidden Exploitation
Catholic theologian Léocadie Lushombo praised Pope Leo’s ‘prophetic’ inclusion of care for digital workers and encouraged people to ‘care about knowing’ how their use of AI products affects other people.
