Rock musician and writer Nick Cave was shocked when he heard a “Nick Cave-style” song created by a fan using artificial intelligence (AI). It was so sophisticated that it was indistinguishable from his own music. But he soon realized something: the “river of life” that had flowed through his entire existence was missing from that song. On the surface, it seemed plausible, but inside, there was no lived time, no waiting, no loss, no breath.
Cave says algorithms cannot create real songs. Songs come from “pain.” Pain refers to the complex, internal human struggle of creation. Algorithms do not feel, and data does not suffer. Writing a song is not about replication or hybrid imitation; rather, it is the exact opposite. Artistic creation and expression are possible only through humans. That is the structure of the soul.
The word “soul” sounds utterly foreign in today’s digital age. Only when we view humans not merely as biological entities but as “unique and irreplaceable personal beings” does that word resonate within us.
In contrast, the countless data centers now blanketing the globe are like “ghosts within machines”—entities we have never seen before. They comb through someone’s entire world in response to a single simple question and deliver an answer in an instant. These ghosts tell us that our reality is ultimately nothing more than a matter of perception. Meanwhile, AI will always have further ground to cover, and its speed will only increase. It is not unique; not depth but a drifting surface.
Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, *Magnifica Humanitas*, is a profound reflection on what constitutes a “full and authentic life” for us in this era of AI, which is overwhelming the world. AI is not merely a technological shift but a “new reality” that compels us to reexamine the very essence of human existence. However, this encyclical is not a neutral reflection. Just as the technologies that create “new forms of assets”—such as algorithms, digital platforms, and data—do not embody a neutral worldview, the encyclical approaches the issue of AI through the lens of the Gospel.
Viewed through this lens, the ideologies revered in our time conceal countless false idols: complete autonomy, radical automation, the realization of artificial consciousness, and the overcoming of human limitations. Yet these illusions give rise to “new forms of dependence, exclusion, manipulation, and inequality,” transforming the way we perceive the human condition. Above all, behind the forces reshaping our labor, families, education, and politics lies a formidable “culture of power”. When power and technology combine to pursue profit alone, reducing humans to mere tools, this is not progress but a new form of domination.
The real issue in the AI era is not technological progress, but the crisis of human freedom.
Viewed through this lens, the ideologies revered in our time conceal countless false idols: complete autonomy, radical automation, the realization of artificial consciousness, and the overcoming of human limitations. However, these illusions give rise to “new forms of dependence, exclusion, manipulation, and inequality,” transforming the way we view the human condition. Above all, behind the forces reshaping our labor, families, education, and politics lies a formidable “culture of power.” When power and technology combine to pursue profit alone, reducing humans to mere tools, this is not progress but a new form of domination.
The real problem of the AI era is not technological progress, but the crisis of human freedom. The power of data tames us into beings who are guided to be chosen, rather than beings who “choose.” Yet human freedom is not the “ability to do what one wants,” but the ability to shape oneself toward “truth and goodness.” Within this lies the truth of life: that we are beings with limitations and vulnerabilities. Through this, we learn compassion, generosity, and healthy interdependence. Through ways of life such as care, labor, nurturing, prayer, suffering, and friendship, we are gradually transformed into “knowledge and love” that resemble Christ.
Therefore, the most important question of our time is not “What is technically possible?” but “What makes us more human?” The age of AI is not a threat to humanity, but an opportunity to reaffirm just how “noble” we are. Rather than remaining passive, it has become an inescapable task of life for each of us to “fulfill our respective roles”.
