Vatican Engages Anthropic Cofounder in AI Ethics Dialog
Original: The Vatican’s Man Inside Anthropic
Why This Matters
Shows growing religious institutional engagement with AI ethics as industry influence expands globally
Chris Olah, Anthropic cofounder and atheist, spoke at Vatican ceremony following Pope Leo XIV's AI encyclical calling for 'disarming' the technology. Olah acknowledged AI companies operate under incentives that 'sometimes conflict with doing the right thing.'
The Vatican has been courting AI industry figures for years through Minerva Dialogues, inviting tech leaders like Reid Hoffman and Eric Schmidt since 2016. Catholic clerics in San Jose began seeking industry contacts in 2025, identifying Chris Olah as a key insider. Despite being an atheist who rejected evangelical Christianity at 15 and received a Thiel fellowship, Olah participated in the Vatican ceremony following Pope Leo XIV's historic AI encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas.' The encyclical warns against AI creating 'a new form of slavery' where privileged few enjoy bounty while masses suffer under surveillance. Olah admitted 'every frontier AI lab—including Anthropic—operates inside incentives that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing,' providing validation for the Pope's concerns about industry needing external pressure.