Opinion piece by Karima Peerwani, Vice Principal

Nosce te ipsum appears above the Oracle’s door in the film The Matrix. It is the Latin translation of “know thyself.” Carved into the Temple of Apollo at Delphi as the Greek gnōthi seauton, the phrase urges deep inner self-awareness as a path to understanding the wider world.

In a modern world where the internet and bookshops are overflowing with advice on personal development, it is easy to forget that self-understanding has been a constant human pursuit since time immemorial. The theme appears in ancient Hindu texts, Buddhist philosophy and the work of modern psychotherapists and spiritual teachers. Even Gilgamesh’s journey was an epic quest for deeper meaning.

Today, discussions about artificial intelligence are often dominated by engineers, investors and politicians. Pope Leo XIV has introduced a vital perspective into the debate: a moral and ethical one.

His recent remarks on artificial intelligence are not an attack on technology. Rather, they challenge the assumptions that increasingly surround it. The Pope’s central argument is straightforward: artificial intelligence must serve humanity, not the other way around.

That message may sound obvious but it cuts directly against much of today’s technological culture.

The dominant narrative surrounding AI is one of inevitability and, in many ways, more Yin than Yang. The emphasis falls heavily on accumulation: more power, more speed, more data, more automation. The balancing forces of restraint, reflection and wisdom receive far less attention. More powerful systems are assumed to be better systems. Greater automation is treated as synonymous with progress, while rapid deployment is often viewed as a competitive and economic necessity. In this environment, ethical and environmental concerns can become secondary to commercial advantage.

Pope Leo questions that. He argues that efficiency and profit cannot be the sole or dominant measures of human progress and that technological power must remain accountable to human values.

Some critics may dismiss this as the Church venturing into territory better left to scientists and economists. That would be a mistake. The questions raised by AI are not merely technical; they are profoundly human.

Who bears responsibility when an algorithm makes a life-changing decision? Should autonomous systems be involved in warfare? What happens when a handful of corporations control the infrastructure that shapes information, employment, education, and public discourse? These are ethical questions before they are technological ones.

The Pope’s strongest argument concerns human dignity. While AI can imitate aspects of human intelligence, it does not possess human conscience, empathy, moral judgement, or an experiential understanding of genuine relationships. Yet increasingly sophisticated machines are designed to appear human. They converse, advise, reassure and even mimic emotional understanding. There is a subtle danger in this. The closer machines come to reflecting our image, the easier it becomes to forget the qualities that truly distinguish human beings. The illusion can act as a form of bait, drawing us towards an increasingly mechanistic and egocentric understanding of ourselves. In attempting to create intelligence in our own image, we may unconsciously not truly know our moral, relational and spiritual parts.

Particularly compelling is his warning about military applications of AI. As governments race to develop increasingly autonomous weapons systems, he argues that no algorithm can assume moral responsibility for the decision to take human life. Technological distance may make violence easier to authorise, creating a dangerous separation between action and accountability.

Perhaps that is part of the attraction. Throughout history, societies have sought ways to make difficult decisions feel less personal. Algorithms create the appearance of objectivity and neutrality, allowing responsibility to be dispersed across systems rather than carried by individuals. Yet moral responsibility cannot be delegated to code. As a small number of governments, corporations and technology leaders shape the future of these systems, the question becomes not only what decisions AI can make, but who ultimately remains accountable for them.

Whether one shares the Pope’s religious beliefs is beside the point. His intervention matters because he has used his platform to broaden a debate that is too often framed solely in terms of capability, competition, and economic advantage. The most important question is not what AI can do. It is what AI should do.

The Industrial Revolution transformed economies but also produced forms of exploitation that eventually required social reform. Does the AI revolution present a similar or more significant challenge? That is not merely a religious question. It is a civic question, a political question, and increasingly a societal question.

The greatest risk posed by artificial intelligence may not be that machines become more human. It may be that humans become less human. As we outsource judgement, memory, creativity, responsibility, and even relationships to what seem increasingly capable systems, we risk losing touch with the very qualities that make us human in the first place. The ancient injunction to “know thyself” becomes more relevant, not less, in an age of artificial intelligence. Before deciding what machines become, humanity may need to rediscover what it wants to be.

Nosce te ipsum.

Sources: Medium (2026) ‘What was the motto that gave you the most hope?’. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/curious/what-was-the-motto-that-gave-you-the-most-hope-50f79e4cfd66 (Accessed: 8 June 2026).

Vatican News (2026) ‘Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas: AI must serve humanity, not concentrate power’, Vatican News, 25 May. Available at: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-xiv-encyclical-magnifica-humanitas-ai.html (Accessed: 8 June 2026). (Vatican News)

World Press (2009) ‘Nosce te ipsum: “Know thyself”’, 1000 Diamonds, 20 April. Available at: https://1000diamonds.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/nosce-te-ipsum-know-thyself/ (Accessed: 8 June 2026).

Pope Leo XIV (2026) Magnifica Humanitas: Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Available at: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html (Accessed: 8 June 2026). (Vatican)