A Reflection for Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Find today’s readings here.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves.”
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on Pope Leo’s nascent efforts to take on the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence industry. In explaining why he chose the name Leo, the pope recalled that his predecessor, Leo XIII, challenged the fallout caused by rapid industrialization in the 19th century, by reminding the world about the inherent dignity of human beings. Now, in 2025, Pope Leo sees the need for the church to offer prophetic witness against rapid advances in technology, especially A.I. and the negative effects it will have on individuals, families and nations.
That report in the Journal came on the heels of another story about A.I., published in The New York Times, in which people claimed that they had been deceived into believing that they were interacting with sentient beings rather than complex algorithms. Some people spoke about the ill effects that relying on these chatbots had on their lives, with some even saying that they had become dissociated from reality.
What does this have to do with today’s readings?
Anyone who has used ChatGPT or the myriad other A.I.-powered chatbots knows firsthand how seductive they can be. Need help planning a vacation? It’s got you covered. Want to depict an image that exists only in your imagination? Just ask Grok. Students have no qualms using A.I. to write papers and complete assignments. The knowledge these tools seem to possess feels limitless. So it’s probably only a matter of time until human beings mistake them for something more than they are. Maybe even prophets?
But not so fast.
The article in the Journal notes that Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, initially seemed open to the possibilities of progress promised with A.I., but grew more skeptical as it became clear how the technology might instead bring about harm. Leo seems even more aware of the possible danger and some thinkers even posit that A.I. parallels tricks used by demons to seduce us.
Jesus’s words in today’s Gospel may be ancient, but they offer an important warning in this modern moment. If we are seduced by the promise of A.I., it’s possible we may come to think of their outputs as prophetic. But dig a little deeper, look at the fruits of what this technology produces, and it’s likely we’ll instead see something much darker.
