Pope Leo XIV shot down a plan to create an artificial intelligence (AI) version of himself that would conduct virtual audiences, citing deep concerns about technology replacing human work and dignity in what he sees as a modern parallel to the Industrial Revolution. He believes AI will wipe out jobs the same way factories crushed traditional work during the Industrial Revolution, a historical parallel that shaped his papal name choice. Leo XIII wrote the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed labor rights as factories replaced traditional work. Beyond employment concerns, Leo worried an AI pope would create a “fake world” that obscures truth. The pope’s biography “Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the XXI Century” contains the full interview with Allen.