Pope Leo issues sweeping encyclical on AI Simone Risoluti\/Vatican Media\/Vatican Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Just when you thought everyone had offered their opinion about artificial intelligence, here comes the pontiff.<\/p>\n On Monday, Pope Leo XIV published an encyclical about AI, dubbed \u201cMagnifica humanitas<\/a>,\u201d that\u2019s got believers and non-believers alike talking. (An \u201cencyclical,\u201d you ask? Think of it as a papal memo.)\u00a0<\/p>\n The document, published in eight languages, aims to be a moral guide for the Intelligence Age. Over its 42,300 words, the Pope calls for government regulation of private AI companies; protection of workers whose jobs are threatened by AI; education for students to think critically about the technology; protection of children from AI-generated violent, sexual, or disinformation content; and safeguards to ensure that humans retain responsibility for use of AI weapons.<\/p>\n \u201cHumanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: Either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together,\u201d wrote the Apple Watch-wearing Pope.<\/p>\n According to a Politico report<\/a>, executives from Amazon, Google, and Meta met with Vatican officials for an hour-long \u201clobbying push\u201d on April 29. Meanwhile Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah was invited to speak<\/a> at the presentation of the encyclical in Vatican City.<\/p>\n The influence of the document is expected to be far-reaching, informing digital policy discussions in nations around the world\u2014even in the U.S., whose Trump administration has been openly critical of God\u2019s divine representative on Earth.<\/p>\n Said Vice President J.D. Vance, a converted Catholic, last week: \u201cI think it’s going to be a very, very important document.\u201d \u2014AN<\/p>\n Samsung union asks court to block broader pay deal vote<\/p>\n To the victor of the AI boom goes the spoils, yes\u2014but which victor?<\/p>\n A labor union representing consumer electronics workers at Samsung has asked a South Korean court to block a vote on a broader pay deal for unionized Samsung workers.<\/p>\n The reason? Because the consumer electronics union believes chip workers will benefit too much from it.<\/p>\n The government-mediated agreement reached last week\u2014which avoided an 18-day strike by some 48,000 workers\u2014gives big bonuses to workers in Samsung\u2019s memory chip business. (Where, reminder, business is good: AI is booming and there\u2019s a global shortage of the stuff.)<\/p>\n But the 13,000 unionized workers in Samsung\u2019s consumer divisions\u2014smartphones, TVs, home appliances, etc\u2014felt they had to take legal action after they were cut out of the vote, which is led by the national umbrella union and runs to Wednesday.<\/p>\n They\u2019re not the only ones. Another union of about 20,000 workers, representing both chip and non-chip work, is also upset with the terms of the deal and plans to boycott the vote. (There are five active trade unions for Samsung Electronics workers.)<\/p>\n A lot of money is at stake. Some of the memory chip workers will receive more than $400,000 bonuses under the terms of the existing agreement. Bonuses for foundry and logic chip design workers will be \u201csmaller but still substantial,\u201d according to Reuters<\/a>; those for consumer electronics workers will be smaller still. \u2014AN<\/p>\n EU may fine Google \u2018in the high hundreds of millions of euros\u2019<\/p>\n The European Union is reportedly planning to \u200bfine Google a record amount as part of an antitrust investigation into Google allegedly favoring its own services in search results.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s Handelsblatt newspaper reported Monday<\/a> that \u201cproceedings\u201d against the Alphabet-owned company are \u201cnearing completion.\u201d The final decision \u201crests with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Regulators found last year that Google displayed first-party services such as Google Shopping more prominently in search results than competing third-party websites. They also found that the design of some sections, such as for sports scores, also tipped the scales in its favor.<\/p>\n The fine would be the highest the EU has ever imposed for a violation of the Digital Markets Act, or DMA\u2014though the commission is more interested in compliance than penalties, spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s expected to be announced before summer recess for the EU, which begins in late July.<\/p>\n In its own statement, the purveyor of the world\u2019s most popular search engine didn\u2019t mince words, calling DMA-regulated changes \u201cthe biggest downgrade in the product\u2019s history.\u201d \u2014AN<\/p>\n More tech<\/p>\n \u2014Wix will reportedly cut 1,000 workers<\/a> after weak financials and a sinking stock price.<\/p>\n \u2014Massachusetts recognizes the App Drivers Union<\/a>, the first state-certified rideshare union in the U.S.<\/p>\n \u2014X cracks down on popular accounts<\/a> that are \u201cprogrammatically reuploading content from smaller accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014Iran may lift its Internet blackout<\/a>, now at 87 days and counting.<\/p>\n \u2014FTC settles with Cox, MindSift, 1010 Digital Works<\/a> for $930,000 over falsely claiming to offer an ad-targeting service based on conversations overheard by consumers\u2019 smart devices.<\/p>\n \u2014Tech CEOs\u2019 hottest new tool<\/a>: AI \u201cdigital twins\u201d to manage tasks.<\/p>\n![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2278118035.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Pope Leo XIV signs “Magnifica humanitas” at the Apostolic Palace on May 25, 2026 in Vatican City, Vatican.\u00a0<\/p>\n