From campus to the Vatican, is an AI backlash growing stronger?

从校园到梵蒂冈,人工智能的反对声音是否越来越强烈?

The Global Story

2026-05-29

26 分钟
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At the Vatican on Monday, Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical, a letter issued to the world’s bishops. In it, he criticised artificial intelligence and what he called the “culture of power” fuelling its rise, urging world leaders to regulate the technology more forcefully. The Pope’s scepticism towards AI does not exist in a vacuum. It comes after several weeks in which numerous commencement speakers championing artificial intelligence on US college campuses were booed by Gen Z graduates. Is a backlash to AI brewing? We speak to BBC religion editor Aleem Maqbool about the Pope’s AI-critical encyclical, and to Rachel Janfaza, founder of the Gen Z research firm The Up and Up, about why Gen Z’s relationship with AI is far more complicated than many think. Producer: Xandra Ellin, Cat Farnsworth, and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: James Shield Sound engineer: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins (Photo: Pope Leo XIV during a meeting with Italian bishops in Vatican City, 28 May 2026. Credit: Vatican Media/EPA)
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  • We were all told that artificial intelligence was our great societal hope,

  • that this new technology would transform our lives,

  • free us up from tedious tasks, help eradicate diseases and make the world better.

  • The AI revolution apparently will be the biggest change

  • in our lives and we ought to jump on board whether we like it or not.

  • The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.

  • But in recent weeks, a backlash has been brewing.

  • From college students.

  • Okay, we've got a bipolar topic here, I see.

  • To protesters angry about data centers.

  • To the Pope.

  • Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed.