Lawmakers Meet the Pope to Discuss AI's Future

A bipartisan group of nine House lawmakers recently visited the Vatican to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on society. Led by Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Dan Newhouse, the delegation met with top Vatican officials and even had a brief meeting with Pope Leo XIV. The discussions centered around two key principles: human dignity and equality.

Human dignity means that humans should be responsible for making key decisions, especially when it comes to health, finances, and individual freedom. Equality, in this context, means preventing automation from causing mass unemployment and ensuring that AI doesn't exclude people from social services. The lawmakers also discussed the need to guard against a concentration of power, where a few billionaires control data and algorithms.

The Vatican has taken a special interest in AI, with Pope Leo warning that the technology could deepen inequality and erode moral responsibility if it doesn't have ethical guardrails. Congress has introduced dozens of AI bills, but has yet to agree on a comprehensive federal framework for governing the technology.

Following the meetings, Rep. Khanna plans to introduce legislation that would tax the use of autonomous AI agents to incentivize companies to hire human workers. He also sent letters to top executives at major tech companies, asking how they intend to align their technology with the principles of human dignity and equality.