A Forecaster research draft
By Kevin L. Michel
Digital PDF edition
AI & tomorrow · COMPLETE RESEARCH DRAFT
Who Gets to Play God?
Pope Leo XIV, Artificial Intelligence, and the Limits of Human Power
Drawing on Pope Leo XIV’s public remarks, this research draft asks who should decide what AI may do, whose interests those decisions serve, and how people can challenge decisions that affect their lives. It follows healthcare, scientific discovery, work, surveillance and autonomous weapons, comparing evidence of benefits with the responsibilities that greater power creates. An independent exploration by Kevin L. Michel of consent, dignity, accountability and a future whose gains reach more people.
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Contents
- Introduction. Before the Answer Arrives
- 1. A Pope Enters the Machine Age
- 2. Capability Is Not Permission
- 3. A Person Is More Than a Score
- 4. Intelligence Without a Throne
- 5. The Makers and Their Myths
- 6. A Life That Cannot Be Optimized Away
- 7. The Patient Is Not the Prediction
- 8. Discovery Is a Beginning
- 9. Whose Work, Whose Reward?
- 10. The Eye That Never Looks Away
- 11. Who Is Speaking Inside Your Attention?
- 12. The Distance Between an Order and a Death
- 13. Who May Decide for the Rest of Us?
- 14. A Future Large Enough for Small Places
- 15. Power That Can Answer Back
- Conclusion. What Greater Power Should Demand
- A Reader's Conversation Guide
The idea behind the book +
In his September 24, 2026 address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope Leo XIV recognized technology’s potential in healthcare, food production, and scientific discovery. He also warned about AI-enabled surveillance, manipulation, and discrimination, and the dangers of autonomous weapons without adequate safeguards and human oversight. His call for responsibility to grow alongside technological power gives this book its central question: as our tools become more capable, how do we decide what they should be used for?
