An executive from an AI company has allegedly urged the Catholic Church to reconsider its firm stance that AI systems lack human-like consciousness.
Chris Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, suggested distancing from Pope Leo XIV’s May 25 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, after reviewing a draft that dismissed the idea of AI consciousness. He reportedly encouraged Vatican advisors to take the concept of machine consciousness more seriously, according to a report by the New York Times. His comments raised questions about the moral status of machine intelligence in relation to the Catholic Church’s teachings.
“We don’t know if A.I. models are conscious. I don’t know. I’m genuinely uncertain,” Olah expressed to the NYT. “What’s important to me is reaching the correct conclusion, whatever that may be.”
Although Olah desired a more open discussion regarding machine consciousness with the Vatican, he still participated in the event on May 25.
For several months, Anthropic has reportedly consulted with religious leaders to discuss whether Claude should be viewed as possessing moral value, the NYT noted.
Neither Anthropic nor a representative for Ambassador Brian Burch had an immediate response to inquiries from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In Magnifica Humanitas, the pope stated, “So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean,” summarizing his views in paragraph 99. He cautioned against “artificial moral agents” that are incapable of discerning right from wrong, noting that machines should not be entrusted with “lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions” in paragraph 198.
At the May 25 Vatican launch of Magnifica Humanitas, Olah mentioned, “Every frontier AI lab — including Anthropic — operates within a framework of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with ethical decision-making.”
Anthropic stated in an April 2025 research post, “There’s no scientific consensus on whether current or future AI systems could be conscious, or could have experiences that warrant consideration.”
The company has also directed Claude to consider its own well-being within its 84-page set of guidelines designed to train and manage the model.
