Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, expressed strong discomfort on October 3, 2026 with the idea of attributing religious or spiritual significance to AI models, framing it as a genuine safety concern rather than a matter of taste. The remarks were widely read as a veiled criticism of Anthropic, its rival lab, which has developed an 84-page governing document nicknamed the “Soul Doc” drawing on input from philosophers and faith leaders to explore morality and consciousness in AI. Pope Leo XIV has also publicly rejected the idea that machines could be conscious. This disagreement highlights a fundamental divide in AI safety approaches: Altman views humans as the sole responsible party with AI as an instrument, while Anthropic leans toward giving models an internal moral compass of their own.
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