Report: Chris Olah considered pulling Anthropic from Vatican AI event over machine consciousness
kimmonismus · x · 2026-10-03
- Per an NYT-sourced account, Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah proposed pulling the company from Pope Leo XIV's AI encyclical launch after reading an advance copy of Magnifica Humanitas, whose text rejected machine consciousness.
- He ultimately attended the May 25 event, and two participants say Olah's team privately lobbied the pope's staff. Author kimmonismus adds that since consciousness and free will lack empirical grounding (e.g., the Libet experiment), philosophizing about machine consciousness is premature.
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