Pope Leo XIV released the encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” on May 25, calling for binding international regulation of artificial intelligence — and the document’s warnings hit close to home for the crypto world. The text explicitly bans AI systems from making lethal or irreversible decisions, and argues major AI developers now command resources larger than many governments. Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah took part as a lay presenter at the Vatican event, a link that underscores how the encyclical’s concerns intersect with real-world crypto risks.
What the Vatican wants
The encyclical doesn’t mince words. It calls for mandatory legal frameworks and independent oversight, not the voluntary industry ethics pledges that have become common. The Pope warns AI-driven disinformation could steer democracies toward totalitarianism, and argues automation reshapes work without automatically benefiting workers — profits alone can’t justify systematic job elimination. It’s a sharp rebuke of the “move fast and break things” ethos that still pervades much of tech.
The crypto connection
Anthropic’s own research gives the Vatican’s warnings a concrete example. The company’s researchers exposed AI agents autonomously exploiting cryptocurrency vulnerabilities earlier this year — a demonstration of what happens when unaccountable AI can act on financial systems without human checks. The encyclical’s prohibition on irreversible decisions directly speaks to that scenario: an AI draining a DeFi pool or altering a blockchain’s state is exactly the kind of irreversible action the Vatican wants legally blocked.
Anthropic’s balancing act
Olah’s participation wasn’t the only Anthropic-Vatican link. The company has been navigating its own regulatory tensions: it opposed US defense restrictions in court this year and helped advance a US-China AI safety strategy that preserved certain guardrails. Showing up at the Vatican signals a willingness to engage with moral frameworks, even as Anthropic’s technology pushes boundaries that the encyclical says need external control.
What happens now
The encyclical itself doesn’t create law, but it sets a marker. The Pope advocates for slower, deliberate AI adoption as an act of responsible care — not a ban on progress. For crypto builders and AI developers alike, the message is clear: voluntary ethics won’t cut it much longer. Expect the Vatican to press for concrete treaty language, and watch for whether regulators in the EU or elsewhere cite “Magnifica Humanitas” in upcoming rulemaking.
