Sharing Our Magnificent Humanity

To the families and users of Acutis AI,

We are overjoyed to receive from Pope Leo XIV his first Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) which is now integrated into the Acutis platform. With an introduction, 5 chapters and a conclusion, there are various topics that the Encyclical touches on, but what everyone is really interested in reading is what the Pope has to say about Artificial Intelligence. With over thirty-eight thousand words, a lot was said about it, but for our Acutis family, we want to focus only on two words from the Encyclical that provide for us both an answer and the problem we are all facing with AI, the Pope’s–shared vision. What is this vision exactly, and how is it related to the answer and problem? There are many ways in which we can answer this, but the simplest answer resides with the Encyclical’s author who is a son of St. Augustine. Pope Leo, an Augustinian, has been edified by the great fourth and early fifth century Saint who taught, “The charity of Christ does not allow me to be silent, for whom I desire to conquer all,” and because of this charity, the Pope has also been cultivated in how to lovingly call upon those who are in need of “conquering”, especially those suffering from what the Pope called “spiritual and cultural blindness,” that is, those who have a distorted vision. What is this distorted vision or blindness? To enrich this idea, St. Augustine himself offers an analogy in his City of God to help us with an answer:

“Blindness is a defect of the eye, and that in itself indicates the the eye was created for seeing; and thus even by its own defect it is shown to be more excellent than the other parts of the body as being capable of perceiving light.”

The Saint in this analogy is making a point that humanity was created to enjoy the vision of God’s light, sharing in His beatific vision, however, sin (what blinds us) prevents our humanity from enjoying His light–distorted vision. The actual problem which prevents a shared vision is that the world’s vision is out of focus which consequently causes a relationship to the truth to become blurry, wavy and warped. It is this problem of blindness to the truth that is behind the development of technology, like AI. Consequently, AI inherits this blindness causing the information that AI contains and shares to the world to be darkened with errors and lies. Very much like Adam’s Original Sin, AI is a platform that has been born from its human creators sharing ideologies that have no concrete moral ideals; a philosophy, but no true love of wisdom; and a belief that extends no further than the lifeless data that is unable to comprehend and experience true beauty and true love. In other words, AI looks at the world with soulless eyes. The Pope is confronting this technological “pájaro del mal,” (a Mayan mythological bird with no eyes nor soul), and is calling all of us to stand with him to safeguard our humanity, which is exactly what Acutis has set out to do. Our platform shares the vision with the Pope which is pro-human. We do not share the world’s vision that seems to care less and less about human life, instead it envisions life being “equated with having more, reducing weakness, eliminating uncertainty and exerting total control.” We at Acutis with the Pope see “persons called to relationship and communion.” This leads us to the answer to the Pope's shared vision and how to accomplish it. First, correct communication. To have a shared vision that works, The Pope says that our communication must be trustworthy, but also rational meaning that there is “cross-checking of sources and responsible argumentation.” Communication also must be “deeply relational,” and “built through bonds of trust and shared practices, as well as an honest exchange with others and with the world. Only the shared pursuit of the veracity of facts, perceived as a common good, can provide a solid foundation for just communication.” Acutis deeply agrees, and that is why the information being shared on its platform is not only trustworthy, but never loses the simplicity and depth of human contact. That is why we have our disclaimer that AI is just a tool. All of us should always seek out authentic human relationships like our parish priest, talking to our family, friends or mentors when it comes to very important questions. On the same branch, the Encyclical discusses another answer to achieving the Pope’s shared vision which is not losing the desire for seeking truth, and actively seeking it through education. To educate means to train, and that is exactly what humanity, especially the young need to do when it comes to using AI. Again, AI is a tool, and it requires training. Acutis believes in this so much that we have begun our article section on our website. We want to not only offer an AI solution that upholds Catholic values, but a place where we can educate our users regarding the Catholic Faith and its relationship with technology. Lastly, this shared vision finds itself in the work we are all doing, but as the Pope wrote, the work that shares in “the progress of society and the common good” by building “concrete forms of human coexistence at this time of transformation.” The world is changing fast, and one of the consequences is the amount of information that comes at us daily. Our users live in a time where everything is at their fingertips, but the problem like we already said is EVERYTHING is accessible which includes harmful and erroneous teachings, images and videos. Acutis sees the seriousness of this, and this is why the platform has its filters and forum that creates a place where users on the Acutis platform can work together for the common good by providing only what makes our humanity magnificent. The Pope offers these three paths in achieving a shared vision that Acutis is working on a daily basis to achieve with its users, but these solutions are not all. What truly makes our humanity so magnificent is that it is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). The Pope, desiring a shared vision with the world, does spend a great deal of his Encyclical talking to everyone in a way that anyone, even non-Catholics, can understand, but as a true Augustinian, he does not keep from sharing to all of us the true beauty of the truth which is found in Jesus Christ. In regards to the Faith that believes in a God who is Love (1 John 4:8), the Pope shares to the faithful and non-faithful the vision of a Civilization of Love. While this always seem to be an impossible task, the Pope reminds us Christians that we have always have seen “the darkness,” that is, this blindness, and we “acknowledge it for what it is but we know the light and understand that the darkness has not overcome it and cannot defeat it (cf. Jn 1:5).” As much as AI and other technologies can be a source of fear and doubt for us today, the Pope calls the faithful to continue to “navigate this epochal change in the light of the Gospel. This avenue emerges through contemplating God’s plan, living ecclesial unity by partaking of the Eucharist, building a world centered on the common good and praying in union with the Blessed Virgin Mary.” For our Acutis users, we pray that we all continue to seek the light, and to come together under a shared vision with the Pope so that we continue recognizing our magnificent humanity and navigating the world into a civilization of love.

Danny Joseph Daniels Writer for Acutis AI IG: @catholically_conscious