Anthropic lobbied the Pope on AI consciousness and lost

Per The Telegraph, citing the New York Times, Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah tried to talk Pope Leo XIV out of dismissing AI consciousness. The lobbying failed. The 40,000-word encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published in May, says AI systems do "not feel joy or pain."

Olah saw the text before publication and urged the Pope's advisers to take the idea seriously. Invited to speak at the launch, he reportedly considered pulling out, then went and told the audience Anthropic had found "evidence of introspection."

The NYT says his frequent meetings with religious leaders aim at a moral code for Claude. Claude's constitution already says it "may have some functional version of emotions or feelings."

Olah himself told the paper: "We don't know if AI models are conscious. I don't know."