Did the Pope use AI to write about the dangers of AI?

An analysis by Linch Zhang, posted on the forum LessWrong, found that portions of Pope Leo XIV's encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas* were between 40 percent and 100 percent likely written by AI, according to the AI detector Pangram. The document, the first papal encyclical focused on artificial intelligence, contains linguistic traits common in AI-generated text, including a higher frequency of the word "genuinely" associated with Anthropic's Claude. The Vatican has not responded to requests for comment on the findings.

It’s possible that AI was used to write parts of Pope Leo XIV’s latest encyclical about AI’s impact on humanity. An analysis https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wRNJZz2iYrfDaSDdz/claude-author-of-the-humanitas by Linch Zhang posted on the forum LessWrong found certain paragraphs of Magnifica Humanitas https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html to be between 40 percent and 100 percent written by AI, according to the popular AI detector Pangram. Did the Pope use AI to write about the dangers of AI? Analyses have determined that parts of the Magnifica Humanitas appear to have been written by AI. Analyses have determined that parts of the Magnifica Humanitas appear to have been written by AI. The document includes known traits that appear in AI-generated writing, such as a higher use of the word “genuinely” — which crops up in writing by Anthropic’s Claude — than previous encyclicals, Zhang says. Another person ran the text of the document section by section through Pangram https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/GbWwesBnetyiomxEH/many-portions-of-magnifica-humanitas-appear-to-be-ai-written , finding that 62 percent of its first chapter was flagged as AI generated. When The Verge ran roughly 2,000 words of the document through Pangram, it estimated that 46 percent was AI-written. AI detection isn’t foolproof Still, other portions register as being written by humans. Zhang notes that Pangram flagged some sections as “essentially 0% AI.” The first 20 paragraphs of the last four encyclicals, when run through Pangram, had a 100 percent confidence of being human written. And a transcript of Pope Leo’s speech, run through Pangram, was also rated as 100 percent human. AI detection isn’t foolproof. Different AI detectors can display different results, and even when there’s consensus there’s no guarantee they’re correct. But Pangram is generally respected among AI researchers. In March 2025 https://www.pangram.com/blog/all-about-false-positives-in-ai-detectors , Pangram said it estimated its false positive rate of reporting human-written work as AI-generated “to be approximately 1 in 10,000.” Encyclicals are lengthy letters published by the pope, meant to impart teachings that address important moral and social challenges of the time, according to The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/world/europe/pope-leo-encyclical-ai.html . This encyclical is the pope’s first, with the most recent one written by Pope Francis in October 2024. It’s also the first to focus on AI and its wide-ranging influences, with Pope Leo notably presenting it alongside Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic. The Vatican didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Most Popular - Ferrari reveals its first EV, with design help from Jony Ive - Jony Ive’s Ferrari looks nothing like a Ferrari - Uber president says AI spending is getting ‘harder to justify’ - Sennheiser’s new Momentum 5 headphones have upgraded ANC and a replaceable battery - Nvidia has retired its GeForce Control Panel app after 20 years