New Delhi, May 31 -- I haven't read much of anything Catholic, not even the Bible. A few days ago, Pope Leo XIV issued an encyclical, which is Vatican for a 'circular.' Across more than 42,000 words, he described the problem of artificial intelligence (AI).

I may have quarrels with many of his fears, but I believe the pontiff is right about his chief concern, which was also the unspoken thread that ran across the whole lament-that AI will create a vast new underclass and it could be more debasing than poverty.

The problem is not just that very few people will control almost everything-that has always been the case, including the present age and during the Vatican's heyday.

The problem is that in the near future almost everyone outside ...