Vance calls Pope Leo’s AI warnings ‘profound’

EXCLUSIVEArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligenceVance calls Pope Leo’s AI warnings ‘profound’In an interview Tuesday with NBC News, the vice president said he is glad the pope tackled the topic. Vance also discussed why X remains off his phone after he deleted it for Lent.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Vice President JD Vance's new book, "Communion," is set to be released June 16.Alex Brandon / Pool via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 26, 2026, 2:10 PM EDTBy Henry J. GomezVice President JD Vance praised Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday for issuing a new theological document rife with warnings about unbridled advancements in AI.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The text, Leo’s first encyclical since his installation as pope last year, urged a restraint that doesn’t stop progress but, rather, functions as the “exercise of responsible care for the human family.”Vance, a Catholic and a proponent of AI technology, said in a telephone interview with NBC News that he had yet to read the entire encyclical but had scanned “bits and pieces” and summaries of it.“What I read of it sounds very profound, and the sort of thing that you would expect and hope from a leader of the church,” he said. “The thing about morality is that the principles never change, but the way you apply those principles does, because the world changes, right?”“You have new technologies and warfare, so you have to update ‘Just War’ doctrine,” Vance added. “New ways of human beings interacting with one another, so you have to kind of rethink the entire Catholic social teaching in light of the new world that we live in. And I think that’s exactly what the pope is trying to do. So I’m glad that he did it.”Leo released the encyclical alongside Christopher Olah, one of the co-founders of Anthropic. The artificial intelligence giant’s involvement had been seen as a potential flashpoint between the...