Pope Leo XIV has published his first encyclical on artificial intelligence: Magnifica Humanitas. One line stands out: «Technology is never neutral». A statement that hits hard in a debate where Big Tech and European policymakers keep pretending algorithms are just tools. The Pope nailed it — neutrality is a cover for those who want to dodge responsibility.
Why does this matter for a small business in Sicily or a developer in Milan? Because it lands while the EU is trying to finalize the AI Act, Google and OpenAI push for light rules, and Italian SMEs wonder whether to embrace AI or sit it out. The stakes are clear: whoever controls technology writes the market rules.
We, at Meteora Web, see it every day. A client adopts a US-based SaaS CRM: data held hostage, fees skyrocketing, zero real customization. Another relies on ChatGPT for SEO copy: no control over sources or privacy. Technology is not neutral because those who design it embed their own values — or lack thereof. The Pope puts it in ethical terms, we translate it into economic terms: if you don't own your stack, someone else decides your margin.
Our position is clear: this encyclical is not a spiritual warning — it is a lesson in industrial strategy
Technological neutrality is a fairy tale. Every framework, every platform, every API embeds design choices that favor certain business models. When an Italian company adopts AI tools without understanding the architecture, it is giving away digital sovereignty. And it pays in hidden costs: forced updates, no auditability, data feeding third-party models. We chose Laravel and Livewire not for fashion, but for full code control. Same logic: own your stack or rent it. The Pope reminds us that the choice is political, not technical.
What to do? For developers: stop treating AI as a black box. Learn to read models, deploy them locally, verify outputs. For business owners: always ask «who owns my data?» before signing a cloud contract. For Europe: move from announcements to action — fund open-source alternatives, build real skills, not empty certifications. Southern Italy does not deserve second-class technology, and an encyclical reminds us with words that should make Big Tech tremble.
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