#217: The Pope's AI Encyclical, AI's PR Emergency, The Soaring Cost of Intelligence & The Great AI Jobs Disconnect

Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, 43,000 words on AI and human dignity, and Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah was at the Vatican for the unveiling. Paul and Mike break down what the church's entry into the AI debate means for global public perception, then cover the PR emergency building among young people, the token cost crisis hitting corporate budgets, Claude Opus 4.8, competing AI jobs narratives, Illinois's landmark safety bill, Microsoft's agent data, and Anthropic's $65B Series H.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:02:49 — AI-Pulse Survey

00:05:40 — The Pope's AI Encyclical

00:25:35 — AI's PR Emergency

00:38:25 — The Soaring Cost of Intelligence

00:54:12 — Claude Opus 4.8

00:58:23 — The Narrative Around AI and Jobs

01:06:22 — AI and Politics Updates

01:11:04 — Microsoft's Work Trend Index on Agents

01:14:23 — AI Use Case Spotlight

01:19:34 — AI Product and Funding Updates

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