Editing Magnifica Humanitas: A Plain-Language Overview (section)

== A special responsibility belongs to developers ==

One part of the encyclical is unusually direct for those of us who write software.

Leo XIV makes a specific appeal to developers of artificial intelligence.

Technological creation can be understood as one expression of human creativity, but every design decision carries assumptions about human beings and about the kind of behavior a system should encourage.

Developers therefore carry a particular ethical responsibility.

Transparency matters.

Consequences matter.

The communities affected by software matter.

The purpose toward which the technology is being directed matters.<ref name="MHDevelopers">Leo XIV, ''Magnifica Humanitas'', no. 111, addressing developers of artificial intelligence and their ethical and spiritual responsibilities.</ref>

The programmer is not merely a pair of hands implementing somebody else's specification.

Technical craftsmanship includes judgment.