Pride, laziness, impatience and over-confidence without carefully evaluating the consequences. An apprentice wants to imitate the master without having neither the full knowledge nor the wisdom that the master had acquired over years.
This story might be as old as humanity, but nobody described it so poignantly as the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1797.
The fascinating story of the Zauberlehrling (the Sorcerer’s Apprentice) must be one of the best-known poems in German culture and the quote “die Geister, die ich rief” (a reference to the part “The spirits that I summoned / I now cannot rid myself of again”) has become a phrase signifying the desperation of not being able to clean up one’s own mess.

Reading the poem out loud describes the situation of the sorcerer’s apprentice magnificently: starting with the moment when the master leaves the room and hands over chores to his apprentice, we can feel that the apprentice has been annoyed and unhappy. He believes that he could rather use his newly acquired sorcerer’s skills to make the broom perform the boring work. Then comes the moment of pleasure and self-confidence when the apprentice sees that his magic spell is working and that he can just watch the broom carry out the chores.
However, the situation changes when the work is done and the apprentice can’t stop the broom continuing what it is doing. He tries out different spells but can’t turn the now agent broom into the wooden tool it was before. In his desperation, he even jumps on the broom, cuts it in two, thinking that it would then die as a human would – but, alas, now he has two spirits to control. The situation gets out of control, and it is only when the master arrives with the right code that the broom returns into its corner.

230 years later, we are living in the “Time of Artificial Intelligence”. Pope Leo XIV, in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas urges all people of good will to consider the consequences of how AI is adopted today. He also states clearly that AI is so rapidly evolving that we can’t even define it in a consistent way.
Some scientists say that AI is a tool, others are convinced that AI is an agent – and some experts are convinced that AI is able to think. Apparently, AI is now learning from other AI which means that the learning goes exponentially. AI has collected an enormous amount of information, has read every book available, and has already surpassed what any human could learn in a life-time of constant learning.

Many scientists have raised their concerns about how AI was released to the public without first considering the consequences.
In the past, universities and research companies would have spent many years of testing a novelty before releasing it to the public, but AI explicitly needed more personal data and direct input by the people to grow its potential.
Apparently, there was no time to evaluate any concerns for the people, the environment and society, and while governments in the world are still debating about the pros and cons, AI is getting smarter.

Pope Leo refers to the danger of having the means of production in the hands of a few tech companies. There is no transparency but only competition and interests in short-term gain for the stock market. The companies are responsible towards their stakeholders, and the common good is secondary – if it is taken into consideration at all.

Microsoft once promoted the vision that “every household will have a computer”. What is the vision of the big tech companies today? Do they not dare to tell us?

Geoffrey Hinton, who is often called the godfather of AI, said that AI was released too early. He used a car metaphor to warn the world about the dangers of unregulated artificial intelligence. Whereas some big tech companies considered regulations as brakes for the production of a super-car, he considers regulations as the steering wheel for a very fast and unknown car.

What does it mean for us? The sorcerer’s apprentice believed that the master kept the broom as a slave, and so he felt good ‘freeing’ the broom and at the same time making the broom do the chores for him. When he realised that he couldn’t stop what he started, he tried the brutal way of splitting the broom with the result that there were now two brooms to be stopped.  Fortunately, when he finally called the master for help, the master came and fixed the problem.
Are we going to call on our master if things don’t work out well, if we are not in control anymore? God wants us to do our part.
Pope Leo asked us to consult Catholic Social Teaching every step of the way. Everyone contributes with their own specific skill set. Many people of good will working together with the common good in mind.

In August 2026 the European Union introduced new transparency rules under Article 50 of the EU AI Act which include a standardised EU label for AI-generated content and distinguishing “fully AI-generated” content from “AI-assisted” content.
It is a small step, but even the longest journey starts with a small step. Let’s hope that many countries in the world will follow the EU’s example and start the journey.

BM