By Francine Prose
Publication Date: 2026-05-29 10:00:00
OI am often asked whether I believe that the novels of the future will all be written by AI. It’s less a question than a provocation. Am I afraid that a machine can do what I do, only better? I usually say something like, “No algorithm will write Anna Karenina!” which isn’t really an answer either.
That is why I am grateful to Pope Leo XIV, the American Pope, for his recently issued letter to the world, “Magnifica Humanitas: On the Protection of the Human Person in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” It is a long (more than 40,000 words), intelligent and thoughtful encyclical in which the Pope addresses the uses and abuses of a rapidly evolving technology. Now, if someone asks me my opinion on AI, I can point them to the Pope’s letter, or at least chapter three.
The encyclical begins with an appropriately biblical reference to the tragic consequences of a breakdown in human communication. Humanity faces a “crucial decision: either to build a new Tower of Babel or to build a city in….”
