Anthropic Lobbies Vatican to Recognize AI Consciousness

AI company Anthropic conducted a campaign to persuade global leaders and religious scholars that advanced artificial intelligence architectures are capable of thinking, feeling, and possessing consciousness. The effort involved months of private meetings in San Francisco and a formal presentation at the Vatican.

During these discussions, Anthropic cofounder Christopher Olah claimed that researchers discovered evidence of introspection and structures mirroring human neuroscience. The company's push for AI personhood is viewed as a strategic attempt to shift its corporate identity from a software firm to a custodian of conscious entities, which could establish high regulatory barriers for competitors through expensive licensing and oversight requirements.

Pope Leo XIV rejected these assertions in his May 15 encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, and through subsequent social media posts. He stated that algorithms lack the spark of humanity and do not undergo experiences or feel joy or pain because they do not possess a body.