Pope Leo XIV has urged young Catholics to cultivate a healthy, discerning relationship with artificial intelligence (AI), warning that while new technologies can deepen faith and learning, they must never replace authentic human growth.
His message coincided with the reflection of Thai academic Dr. Seri Phongphit, who says AI has ushered the world into an era in which truth and falsehood are nearly indistinguishable.
Speaking online to more than 15,000 teenagers gathered for a national Catholic youth event in Indianapolis on Nov. 21, the pope encouraged young people to grow in friendship with Jesus Christ and to use digital tools in ways that strengthen, not weaken, their humanity.
“Be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth,” he said. “Use it in such a way that, if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, create, and act on your own. Remember: AI can never replace the unique gift that you are to the world.”
While the pope focused on moral and spiritual formation, Dr. Seri Phongphit, an independent academic and founder of the Institute for Learning for Life and Society in Bangkok, offered a broader social critique of AI’s expanding influence.
In his reflection for LiCAS News on Nov. 25, he described the AI era as one where “truth and falsehood are so closely intertwined that it’s almost impossible to distinguish them.”
According to Dr. Seri, the shift from the information age to the AI age represents a profound transformation of power. Whereas information used to empower editors, institutions, or the state, algorithms now determine what people see, believe, and fear.
“Algorithms have replaced humans as selectors of truth,” he wrote. “In the past, editors filtered the news. Today, algorithms learn from our fears, anger, and private behavior. They choose what we should and shouldn’t know.”
He argues that data is no longer merely content but a predictive tool capable of forecasting and influencing human behavior. Modern systems, he said, “know what we’ll buy next, who we’ll vote for, when we’re losing hope, or when we’re ready to join a digital mob.”
Dr. Seri compares today’s AI-driven persuasion to a new form of sophism. Whereas ancient Sophists relied on rhetoric to construct artificial truths, AI can now produce “millions of personalized logics per day,” each tailored to the emotions and vulnerabilities of specific individuals.
The result, he said, is a society filled with “simulated realities” that feel entirely authentic to those who consume them.
This fragmented digital environment creates what he calls “digital hegemony,” a subtle, pervasive form of influence more powerful than traditional controls embedded in institutions.
“People no longer see the same world,” he noted. “Each person lives in a personal reality created by algorithms.”
Dr. Seri warns that Thailand is especially vulnerable due to weaknesses in education, technological literacy, and cultural structures.
Rote learning discourages questioning. Strong kinship networks can quickly become polarized digital cliques. Limited digital awareness makes society susceptible to fear-based misinformation and emotional manipulation.
Yet both Pope Leo and Dr. Seri point toward solutions grounded in human responsibility and renewal.
The pope emphasized education, urging young people to form critical minds and strong moral foundations so that technology becomes a tool for wisdom rather than dependency.
He reminded them that authentic growth comes from cultivating character, compassion, and interior freedom.
Dr. Seri similarly calls for “digital organic intellectuals,” everyday thinkers rooted in communities who can navigate technology without being dominated by it.
He outlines three responses for Thai society: developing digital citizenship that recognizes how online environments shape perception; building community-based “critical mass” capable of resisting manipulation; and promoting new learning spaces where people question deeply, connect knowledge with lived experience, and “think for themselves, not for the algorithms.”
He argues that the real threat of AI is not the technology itself but its capacity to “dominate thoughts without people realizing it.” Yet this same era, he believes, offers an opportunity to strengthen wisdom at the grassroots.
“The civilizational struggle of our time,” Dr. Seri writes, “is a struggle for humanity in a world where data and algorithms attempt to organize our lives on our behalf.”
Pope Leo and Dr. Seri both underscored concerns about how rapidly developing artificial intelligence affects human freedom, including freedom of thought, conscience, and access to truth.
