Is Pope joining Anthropic? Internet and memelords think he is

Talent wars in the AI industry have become so intense that even the Pope is being recruited now. That was the reaction online after people saw Pope Leo XIV sharing the stage with Christopher Olah, the 33-year-old atheist co-founder of Anthropic, during a major Vatican event focused on artificial intelligence.

As the pope stepped into a packed Vatican auditorium to personally present Magnifica Humanitas, an encyclical focused on protecting humanity in the age of AI, Olah was seated just a few chairs away among cardinals and theologians.

During his speech, Pope Leo thanked Olah for attending and said the Church wanted to work together to “find a way for humanity in this time of artificial intelligence.” The statement quickly took over social media.

Many users jokingly claimed that one of Silicon Valley’s hottest AI startups had somehow recruited the head of the Catholic Church.

“Pope has joined Anthropic”

Anthropic already has a reputation for attracting high-profile talent, but the internet took things much further this time.

One X user joked that Pope Leo XIV had joined Anthropic “as a safety consultant.”

Another user posted an edited image showing the pope working on a computer while AI researcher Andrej Karpathy — who recently joined Anthropic — stood beside him.

“We got pope as member of technical staff at Anthropic before GTA 6,” another user wrote.

The memes kept spreading as people reacted to the unusual sight of a pope and an AI executive publicly appearing together to discuss the future of artificial intelligence.

What was actually happening

Behind the jokes, however, the Vatican event carried a serious message.

The encyclical presented by Pope Leo XIV, titled Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), warned about the growing crises facing society that are being intensified by rapid and unchecked technological development. The document criticised the concentration of digital power and argued that governments must regulate AI companies more aggressively.

By appearing alongside Olah, the pope signaled that the Vatican wants a seat at the table where AI’s future is being shaped.

Why Anthropic’s co-founder wanted the Vatican involved

Speaking before members of the Roman Curia, Olah openly admitted that the people building AI cannot solve its problems alone. He said there were three major areas where the Vatican’s voice was needed.

The first was helping support people if AI displaces human labour “at a very large scale.” The second was ensuring humans can still “flourish” while using AI — including concerns around how chatbots could affect children’s minds.

His third point was perhaps the most mysterious. Olah said humanity needs to better understand what is happening inside advanced AI systems and hinted that some models may even be showing signs of consciousness.

He also argued that AI companies need outside critics who are not influenced by the financial and competitive pressures driving the industry.

“We need informed critics who will tell the labs when we are failing,” Olah said. “We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend.”

“A great sign of hope”

Without directly addressing their obvious ideological differences, Pope Leo XIV called the public dialogue between the Church and the AI industry “a great sign of hope.”

“What a great sign of hope that, with our differences, we can listen to one another,” he said.

So no, the pope did not actually join Anthropic. But for a few hours online, the internet genuinely seemed ready to believe that Silicon Valley’s AI talent hunt had finally reached the Vatican.