Pope Leo XIV criticises AI-generated art
What happened
On 2 October 2026, Pope Leo XIV posted on X criticising AI-generated art, saying there is an "ontological difference" between human art and machine output, and that algorithms are statistical computations over millions of other people's images and lack a human spark. The report notes that in May this year he issued an encyclical detailing AI and human dignity. According to The New York Times, Anthropic lobbied the Vatican to reconsider its position on non-human consciousness, with little effect.
Written by AI from the reports · updated 14 d ago
Timeline
Follow the reports to see the event from each side.
- TechCrunch · AIPope Leo XIV is not a fan of AI-generated art
"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," the pope wrote. "Algorithms lack the spark of humanity."