Good morning and welcome to the Daily Article podcast from Denison Forum. It's Friday, May 29th,

2026. This is a test of an automated reading of today's daily article authored by Dr. Ryan Denison.

Today's article is titled The New Babel, Reclaiming the Image of God in a world of AI.

Earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV presented his first encyclical,

a letter from the Pope to the Catholic Church and its leaders.

The 42,300 word document, titled Magnifica Humanitas, or Magnificent Humanity, outlined his thoughts on technology, with a specific focus on artificial intelligence, and called for remembering the

importance of people as we integrate it into our lives. While the document was presented on

Monday, it was actually signed on May 15th to mark the 13th anniversary of Rerum Noverum,

an encyclical written by his namesake, Pope Leo the 13th, in 1891, to provide Catholics with

guidance amid the Industrial Revolution. The current Pope sees AI as potentially having a similarly

revolutionary impact on our world.

At the same time, his letter encourages Catholics and all people of goodwill to be wary of the potential impact artificial intelligence could have on our culture,

without being fearful of the technology itself.

In his view, the chief danger is far less dystopian

than many of the books and movies featuring a future dominated by AI might suggest.

Rather than artificial intelligence conquering humanity on its way to taking over the world, Leo suggests a far greater risk is humanity giving up our position in God's created order and elevating our own creation instead.

Is he right? Let's take a closer look. Leo frames the conversation around AI by positing that

the technology presents us with two choices, both of which he likens to stories from the Bible.

The first is that artificial intelligence is akin to a modern tower of Babel.

If you think back to the story in Genesis 11, the tower represented humanity's attempt to make

a name for ourselves, rather than embracing the identity they had already received from the Lord

as a people made in his image. He argues that Babel reveals the limits of any effort that, however grandiose,

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