The River of Life in the Age of A.I.

I am grateful to Pope Leo XIV for his first encyclical which addresses the faith and moral issues of AI and its subsequent impact on the sharing of the world’s water resources.  His encyclical is entitled Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. In this letter to the world, he is asking us to uphold the dignity of the human person in our development and decisions about AI.  He is declaring this is a moral issue as much as it is an economic issue or even a water issue. 

He is arguing, technology is not morally neutral—it reflects the values of those who design and deploy it. That means the question is not only how much water AI uses, but what kind of world are we building as we expand it. 

How does this play out in real life?  I believe Pope Leo would say before we build AI systems and before we build data centers, moral leaders and citizens should be brought into the conversation AND the decision process.  Our pastors, priests, bishops, imams, rabbis philosophers, wise elders should be heard by the citizens, the local governing groups, and the AI developers.  If we ignore these voices, and we’re only interested in profits and beating the Chinese, then we have lost our focus on the dignity of the human persons.

Consequently, we will relive the all the destructive elements of the Industrial Revolution of the 18^th and 19^th centuries: slums, pollution, and slave-like labor.  It was a period where a few people got wealthy, but the poor and undereducated were exploited for the benefit of the owners and their accomplices.  It didn’t have to be this way.  We could have had an industrial revolution without child labor, with decent wages and hours for workers, and with pollution controls that didn’t poison the air and water for everyone.

This is what we must do as we enter into this new age of Artificial Intelligence.  Maintaining an adequate supply of clean, affordable water for all people is one important and fundamental aspect of what that looks like. 

So in the spirit of Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas, I want to utilize the eschatological vision of the earth recorded by the Apostle John in Revelation as a vision for the future age of AI relative to water.  John’s vision for a redeemed earth and the essentialness of water is recorded in Revelation 22:1-2: 

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 

In the final vision of the apocalypse of John, he gives us this striking image of hope. A river flows from the throne of God, through the center of the city, and out toward the people of God. On either side of the river stands the tree of life, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. It is a picture of creation restored—where what has been broken is made whole, what has been scarce is freely given, what has caused division, now leads to life. 

In that vision, water is no longer contested or controlled. It is life flowing outward from the heart of God into a healed creation. And perhaps that is the invitation for us who live in this age of artificial intelligence.  God is inviting us to live as people who reflect that future reality of life-giving water for all creation. 

To use water wisely,  

to share it justly,  

and to steward it in ways that honor both human dignity 

and the flourishing of creation.