The letter elicited a wide range of reactions from in and around the tech industry. Nearly everyone believed the document would be influential. Some critics questioned whether it went far enough, and others believed it should have discussed artificial general intelligence (AGI), which many companies insist is imminent. Still others thought the pope was spot-on.

“It was a pretty clear subtweet of big tech CEOs who are out here blatantly declaring that they’re eliminating staff to replace ‘lower-value human capital’ with AI, and who are also buying their way into the political rooms where it happens in order to write the rules in their favor,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project.

The pope’s encyclical comes amid a backlash to AI’s growing power. Six in 10 US adults feel they have “little to no control” of how AI is used in their everyday lives, protests against the construction of data centers are increasingly common, and some people have even attempted attacks on AI CEOs themselves.

As Olah’s appearance suggests, the pope’s missive describes AI as a technology that can have positive applications, and its tone earned mixed reactions. “I’m glad it’s critical of the AI companies though I think it should be more so,” Daniel Kokotajlo, an AI researcher and former OpenAI employee who is behind the nonprofit AI Futures Project, told The Verge. Conversely, Dr. Guru Sethupathy, GM of AI governance at software company Optro, was encouraged by indications that “Pope Leo and the Vatican are not against AI but rather how to pursue a responsible path that is best for humanity.”