#157 AI pendulum - How Pope Leo, Trump and the Australian public have swung sentiment

This week we check in on what we've previously called the "AI pendulum" - the swing between a pro-safety, pro-regulation instinct that marked AI conversations a couple of years ago to the hands-off, innovation-first mindset dominating the last 12 months.Recent events indicate the pendulum may be swinging back towards a more cautious and considered view of AI. The most striking incursion came from the Vatican, with Pope Leo XIV issuing "Magnifica Humanitas" a 42,000-word encyclical on the moral challenges of AI. We also explore the Trump Administration's recent executive orders and other moves to bring more government scrutiny to frontier models, and new research from the Tech Policy Design Institute that shows strong support by Australians for AI regulation.LinksFull encyclical — Magnifica Humanitas https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.htmlArticle about AI encyclical (Time) https://time.com/article/2026/05/25/pope-leo-encyclical-ai-magnifica-humanitas/Analysis of AI encyclical (Brookings) https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-pope-leos-ai-encyclical/Article about Trump executive order (CNBC) https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/02/trump-executive-order-ai.htmlTPDi report — Earning Trust: Unlocking AI Adoption for Australians https://techpolicy.au/news/earning-trustTPDi — AI Agency Tool and 2025 Australia AI Agency Assessment https://techpolicy.auCreditsEditing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) www.eastcoaststudio.com.au