Pope Compares AI Threat to Tower of Babel

Summary

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WSJ What’s News — "Pope Compares AI Threat to Tower of Babel"

Host: Luke Vargas, The Wall Street Journal
Date: May 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

This morning edition of What’s News covers major developments across global politics, business, and technology. Central themes include U.S.-Iran conflict dynamics, high-stakes business acquisitions, Russia’s intensified campaign in Ukraine, Texas's pivotal Senate runoff—and a deep dive into Pope Leo’s dramatic intervention in the global debate over artificial intelligence, warning against unchecked technological advancement and invoking the image of the biblical Tower of Babel.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. U.S.-Iran Tensions and Ceasefire Fragility

• Escalation: U.S. conducted defensive strikes against Iran following tit-for-tat attacks, with the U.S. sinking Iranian boats and Iran launching missiles at American warplanes.
  (00:55–01:13)
• Diplomatic Slowdown: Peace talks are stalling over disagreements about Iran’s nuclear program and financial relief for Tehran.
  • Quote:
    “It’s going to take a couple days to settle on, even down to the disagreements over a word sentence, so we’ll have to work through that... It’s either going to be a good deal or there isn’t going to be one.” — Marco Rubio, 01:32
• Oil Uncertainties: The state of Iran’s oil storage is unclear, which is pivotal for negotiation leverage.
  • Quote:
    "Estimates on Iran's onshore oil capacity storage range widely from 57% full to 90% full... It’s genuinely a mystery right now how much storage space Iran still has." — Rebecca Fung, 02:34

2. Major Business and Market Moves

• Eli Lilly: Moves to become a key player in infectious disease with $4B in acquisitions of three vaccine developers (Curivo, Limitech Biologics, Vaccine Company).
  (03:31–03:56)
• Huawei’s Chip Breakthrough:
  • Despite U.S. and Dutch equipment bans, Huawei claims it will match top chip manufacturers by focusing on multilayer circuit stacking and data efficiency by 2031.
• Uber’s Bid for Delivery Hero:
  • Potential $12B acquisition would consolidate Uber’s presence in European food delivery after recent purchases and last year's Doordash/Deliveroo deal.

3. U.S. Politics: Texas GOP Senate Runoff

• The Contest: Trump-endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton vs. incumbent Senator John Cornyn.
  • Campaign Rhetoric:
    • Quote:
      "Paxton will help Trump make America bigger, better and stronger than ever before... Trump endorsed Texas first." — Donald Trump, 06:03
    • Cornyn’s Caution:
      "It's not just about me. It’s about the future of our state, the future of the Republican Party, the future of President Trump’s agenda, and whether we’re going to basically throw away a safe Senate seat by nominating someone who could well lose that election." — John Cornyn, 06:30
  • Outcome and broader significance to be covered in the next episode.

4. Russia-Ukraine War: Stalemate and Escalation

• Major Strikes:
  • Russia executed one of its largest attacks on Kyiv in retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes.
• Strategic Evolution:
  • Both sides are escalating city, infrastructure, and military strikes. Increased Ukrainian drone capabilities have forced Russia to adapt, limiting armored movements on the front.
  • Quote:
    "Ukraine really has churned out drones... enabling Kyiv to hold back Russian troops on the front lines and really brought Russia to the point where it’s not even using armored vehicles anymore..." — Matthew Luxmore, 07:17
• Stalemate and Attrition:
  • Despite heavy losses, Russia signals no backing down unless major territorial concessions are made.
  • Insider analysis notes growing private concerns about the war’s sustainability despite public Kremlin intransigence.
  • Quote:
    "Even putting aside the colossal loss of life, it’s becoming in some ways...far harder for Putin to justify the war to his people." — Kremlin Official/Analyst, 08:39

5. Pope Leo’s Dramatic Warning on Artificial Intelligence

• Central Message:
  • Pope Leo draws parallel between AI’s dangers and the biblical Tower of Babel, warning of “tech-driven mass unemployment” and cautioning against reducing humanity to mere cogs in a relentless machine.
  • Notable Quote:
    "Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed. The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity." — Pope Leo, 00:24
• Sparking a Wider Backlash:
  • The encyclical is described as a catalyst for faith and secular communities to scrutinize AI’s impacts and ethics.
  • Commentary:
    "You can now see Catholics, mainline and evangelical Protestant Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and atheists and agnostics working together to think about what a better technological future would look like..." — Greg Epstein, MIT/Harvard Humanist Chaplain, 10:06
  • Notable Metaphor:
    “Silicon Valley emerges as its own religion with its own rituals...our stained glass, black mirror altars that we carry in our pockets and genuflect to all day…” — Greg Epstein, 10:06

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Pope Leo (on AI):
  "Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed... this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity." (00:24)

• Rebecca Fung (on Iran’s oil situation):
  “It’s genuinely a mystery right now how much storage space Iran still has. That question itself is quite crucial to the negotiation process…” (02:34)

• Donald Trump (endorsing Paxton):
  “Paxton will help Trump make America bigger, better and stronger than ever before. Trump endorsed Texas first.” (06:03)

• Matthew Luxmore (on Ukraine’s evolving warfare):
  “… brought Russia to the point where it’s not even using armored vehicles anymore, since anything… is quite an easy target for Ukrainians.” (07:17)

• Greg Epstein (on religious-secular unity vs. Silicon Valley):
  “Secular and religious leaders, communities and people of all, all sorts are now coming together to push back.” (10:06)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• US-Iran tension update: 00:09–03:13
• Tech & Market headlines (Eli Lilly, Huawei, Uber): 03:31–05:01
• Texas GOP Senate runoff preview: 05:46–06:47
• Russia-Ukraine war strategy update: 06:54–09:23
• Pope Leo on AI and ethical debate: 09:23–11:01

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This episode weaves together urgent geopolitical developments and landmark public interventions, highlighting Pope Leo’s call for global soul-searching on the AI revolution—a message resonating well beyond Catholic circles.

Transcript

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[News Anchor/Reporter]

the US and Iran

[Luke Vargas]

trade attacks as peace talks bog down plus decision day in Texas as Republican Senate runoff tests the power of President Trump's endorsement and Pope Leo adds his voice to a growing backlash against AI

[Pope Leo]

Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed. The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity.

[Luke Vargas]

It's Tuesday, May 26th. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of what's news, the top headlines and business stories moving your world Today.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

The US has conducted what are being described as defensive strikes against targets in

[Luke Vargas]

Iran after tit for tat attacks yesterday saw the US Sink a pair of mine la boats and Iran fire surface to air missiles at American warplanes. Despite the flare up, American officials say the US Continues to observe a ceasefire in place since early April and that talks to end the war are ongoing. Diplomatic progress appears to be slowing, however, as the two sides dug in yesterday over references to Iran's nuclear program and financial relief for Tehran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio updated reporters today on where talks standard with

[Marco Rubio]

something like this, it's going to take a couple days to settle on, even down to the disagreements over a word sentence, so we'll have to work through that. If there's going to be a deal, we're going to have to work through that. But this is, you know, it's either going to be a good deal or there isn't going to be one.

[Luke Vargas]

The slowdown in talks follows a weekend that began with President Trump and other top officials saying a deal was close. Brent and WTI oil futures are up around 2% today following yesterday's attacks and uncertainty around peace talks, reversing a prior fall when it looked like the two sides were moving closer to an agreement. What One curveball in gauging Iran's willingness to make a deal is how close

[News Anchor/Reporter]

the country is to running out of

[Luke Vargas]

room to store oil it can no longer export. In late April, Trump claimed that Iran's clogged oil pipelines could be just three days away from exploding, a prospect key to Washington's pressure campaign. But a month on Journal energy markets

[News Anchor/Reporter]

reporter Rebecca Fung says that the true

[Luke Vargas]

situation in Iran remains difficult to pin down.

[Rebecca Fung]

We talked to analysts in our reporting and estimates on Iran's onshore oil capacity storage range widely from 57% full to 90% full. And it's actually not very usual that analysts disagree with each other so much. And then, further complicating matters, some of the ship tracking websites are seeing that empty ships are moving into the Gulf, which kind of provides extra storage space for for Iran. So I think it's genuinely a mystery right now how much storage space Iran still has. That question itself is quite crucial to the negotiation process and when the war can be over, really.

[Luke Vargas]

While Iran has been dialing back oil production amid the storage crunch, it's been gradually increasing production at its refineries and by one estimate is now able to export some 200,000 barrels a day over land, evading a US naval blockade.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

In markets news, we are exclusively reporting that Eli Lilly is expanding a push

[Luke Vargas]

into infectious disease prevention by acquiring three vaccine developers in deals set to be announced later today. The deals to acquire Curivo, Limitech biologics and vaccine company add up to nearly $4 billion and could turn vaccines into a core focus for Lilly alongside obesity and cancer treatments.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

China's Huawei says it's developed a workaround to allow it to produce advanced chips

[Luke Vargas]

on par with those made by leading manufacturers by 2031. That's despite the company being barred from accessing specialized machines made by Dutch company asml, used by rivals Intel, TSMC and Samsung. Huawei, a central company in Beijing's national push for tech self sufficiency, says its process for making high end chips focuses on improving computing efficiency by stacking multiple layers of circuits within a single chip ship and reducing the time that it takes to move data among them.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

And Uber has offered to buy Germany's

[Luke Vargas]

Delivery Hero for almost $12 billion. The potential takeover follows a string of recent stock purchases by Uber, making it the company's largest shareholder in recent weeks and would continue a pattern of food delivery consolidations after Doordash agreed to buy Britain's Deliveroo in a roughly $4 billion cash deal last year. Uber didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. While Delivery Hero has previously said it welcomes Uber's Coming up, we'll preview today's

[News Anchor/Reporter]

closely watched Texas GOP Senate runoff and

[Luke Vargas]

look at the latest evolutions in Russia and Ukraine's battlefield strategies. That and more after the break.

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[News Anchor/Reporter]

Voters in Texas are heading to the polls today in a closely watched Republican Senate runoff pitting Trump backed Texas Attorney

[Luke Vargas]

General Ken Paxton and incumbent Senator John Cornyn. The vote is the latest test of the power of Trump's endorsement, which Paxton has been playing up on the airwaves.

[Donald Trump]

Trump says Paxton is a true MAGA warrior who has always delivered. Paxton will help Trump make America bigger, better and stronger than ever before. Trump endorsed Texas first. Ken Paxton, I'm Ken Paxton.

[Luke Vargas]

Cornyn, meanwhile, has been playing up headlines calling Paxton a gift to Democrats in what could be a close general election battle in November against State Representative James Talarico. He here was Cornyn speaking to CBS News Texas.

[John Cornyn]

It's not just about me. It's about the future of our state, the future of the Republican Party, the future of President Trump's agenda, and whether we're going to basically throw away a safe Senate seat by nominating someone who could well lose that election.

[Luke Vargas]

We will be digging into the results of the runoff on tomorrow's pod. Russia over the weekend staged one of

[News Anchor/Reporter]

its largest attacks on Kyiv since launching

[Luke Vargas]

its war in Ukraine four years ago, using hyper supersonic missiles in strikes that it's said were a retaliation for recent Ukrainian drone assaults. Journal correspondent Matthew Luxmore says that with progress stalled on the battlefield, both sides have been stepping up their strikes on cities, infrastructure and military targets, with Ukraine feeling emboldened.

[Matthew Luxmore]

Ukraine really has churned out drones over the last couple of years and has really expanded its ability to produce these small flying explosive and reconnaissance craft. And they've enabled Kyiv to hold back Russian troops on the front lines and really brought Russia to the point where it's not even using armored vehicles anymore, since anything that is moving along the front lines is quite an easy target for Ukrainians. Now with the coming of warmer weather and more tree cover, the Russians are trying to take advantage of that to kind of move small groups of troops forward. But the other element is very far from the battlefield. This aerial campaign by both sides to try and strike each other's cities and infrastructure and military targets. And Ukraine has been producing long range drones that are able to fly far into Russian territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls this Ukraine's long range sanctions against Moscow. He's been calling for many years for financial sanctions against Russia's economy. And now the Ukrainian narrative is essentially we're taking things into our own hands, trying to destroy or at least substantially damage their ability to produce the energy that is a lifeline of economy and

[Luke Vargas]

Matthew says that despite tens of thousands of Russian soldiers being killed or wounded each month, Moscow is continuing to send troops to the front lines in eastern Ukraine.

[Kremlin Official/Analyst]

Publicly, the Kremlin says nothing essentially is going to change until they achieve a victory. And unless Kiev concedes to their demands, which at a minimum means that Ukraine surrenders the entire eastern Donbas province, there's really not going to be any backing down by Russia. But privately and of course behind the scenes, they understand that the war is not going to plan. And that has especially been the case over the last few months. Even putting aside the colossal loss of life, it's becoming in some ways not necessarily unsustainable, but far harder for Putin to justify the war to his people.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

And finally, Pope Leo has equated the

[Luke Vargas]

threat of artificial intelligence with the biblical Tower of Babel, joining a growing backlash against the impact of the technology. In a long awaited encyclical letter yesterday aimed at sparking discussions across the Catholic faith, Leo warned of tech driven mass unemployment and called out private actors whose pursuit of AI, he said, risked reducing humans to mere cogs in a system driven toward ever greater efficiency. It's a message that Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at MIT and Harvard, said is hitting a nerve with young people who've lately been booing commencement speakers who evoke AI and one that could forge alliances across religious and non religious communities alike.

[Greg Epstein]

I think we have to see the phenomenon of the Catholic Church responding to Silicon Valley as part of a bigger whole where you can now see Catholics, mainline and evangelical Protestant Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and atheists and agnostics working together to think about what a better technological future would look like, because it's a problem for literally everyone on Earth right now. Labor has historically been a way to bring religious and non religious people together. And so as Silicon Valley emerges as its own religion with its own rituals, you know, our stained glass, black mirror altars that we carry in our pockets and genuflect to all day, et cetera. Secular and religious leaders, communities and people of all, all sorts are now coming together to push back.

[Luke Vargas]

We've left a link to the WSJ's full coverage of the papal encyclical in our show notes. And that's it for what's news for this Tuesday morning. Today's show was produced by Hattie Moyer. Our supervising producer was Daniel Bach. And I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. And until then, thanks for listening.

[Donald Trump]

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