Presented by
Good morning, AI enthusiasts. The world's most powerful religious institution just issued a 43,000-word statement on AI, with an Anthropic co-founder seated in the front row at the Vatican.
The pope called for "disarming AI" from the arms race and named Silicon Valley directly for concentrating power without oversight.
In today's recap:
Pope Leo XIV issues first AI encyclical
Google launches AI tools for scientific research
Build your first AI agent in Python from scratch
AI guardrails stripped from major models in minutes
4 new AI tools, prompts, and more
AI POLICY
Pope Leo calls for disarming AI globally
Recaply: Pope Leo XIV just published "Magnifica Humanitas," a 43,000-word text on artificial intelligence. He called for AI to be "disarmed" from the arms race, with Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah at his side at the Vatican launch.
Key details:
It says AI in warfare must face strict ethical rules. It names some weapons as systems "practically beyond human reach" to control, and says tech companies hold too much power over data and digital systems.
Encyclicals carry formal weight for 1.4 billion Catholics. This is the first major papal text to put AI governance front and center since Leo took office in May 2025.
Olah said companies like his face "incentives that can conflict with doing the right thing." He called for outside oversight from governments and civil society at the launch.
The event was on May 25, 2026 at the Vatican, where Leo broke tradition to present the document himself alongside theologians and Anthropic's co-founder.
Why it matters: It's rare for a church and an AI company to share a stage on policy. But Olah wasn't there just for the photo op. He said there's "a real possibility" AI displaces workers "at very large scale," calling it "a moral imperative" to support those affected. That's an Anthropic co-founder saying the risk is real. The church just handed that message 1.4 billion witnesses.
PRESENTED BY COFOUNDER
Engineering, sales, marketing, design, all run by agents
Recaply: Most AI tools handle tasks. Cofounder runs departments. It's an agent orchestration platform built like a real company, with shared context across engineering, sales, marketing, design, and more.
With Cofounder, you get:
Engineering agents that ship features, monitor infrastructure, and fix issues
Marketing agents that write content, run campaigns, and handle distribution
Sales agents that surface leads, warm inboxes, and run outbound
Design agents that build your visual identity and apply it across the org
Google launches research suite backed by Nature papers
Recaply: Google just released Gemini for Science, a set of three AI research tools built on Gemini models. Two papers about the technology behind it came out in Nature on the same day.
Key details:
Three tools are now on Google Labs: Hypothesis Generation (powered by Co-Scientist), Computational Discovery (powered by AlphaEvolve and ERA), and Literature Insights (powered by NotebookLM). All three connect to 30 or more life science databases.
Over 100 research institutions are enrolled. ERA and Co-Scientist papers both appeared in Nature on launch day.
Access is rolling out at labs.google/science. Most researchers are still waiting to get in.
The tools were shown at Google I/O on May 20, 2026, with access starting in May 2026 through Google Labs.
Why it matters: AI tools have been in research circles for years, but most only help with writing or searching papers. They don't actually change how science is done. Google's approach is different: three tools that each cover a distinct stage, from forming a hypothesis to running tests to reviewing what's already been published. Two Nature papers on launch day isn't just a press release move. It's a direct signal to scientists who've doubted AI as a serious research tool.
GUIDES
Build your first AI agent in Python from scratch
Recaply: In this tutorial, you will learn how to build a basic AI agent in Python using the Claude API, with memory that persists across turns and the ability to call external tools.
Step-by-step:
Install the required packages with
pip install anthropic python-dotenv, then create a.envfile in your project root and set yourANTHROPIC_API_KEY.Create an
agent.pyfile and define anAgentclass. Give it an__init__method that sets up your Anthropic client, sets the model name toclaude-sonnet-4-6, and creates an empty list calledmemoryto store conversation history.Add a
chat()method to the class that appends each user message tomemory, sends the full history toclient.messages.create(), and returns the assistant reply.Add tools as plain Python functions, like
get_weather(city)orsearch_web(query), and pass them to the API using thetoolsparameter in yourmessages.create()call.Build the run loop at the bottom of the file: create an
Agent()instance, then use awhile Trueloop that collects user input, callsagent.chat(), and prints the response.
Pro tip: Add a max_history parameter to your chat() method that trims self.memory to the last N messages before each API call, to avoid hitting context window limits during long conversations.
TOGETHER WITH PERCENT
$20.8B in Redemption Requests. Percent Was Issuing Deals and Paying on Schedule.
Those requests came from non-traded BDC investors in Q1 2026, and most got back roughly half of what they asked for. Moody's U.S. BDC sector outlook: Negative.
On Percent's marketplace that same quarter: new issuances, scheduled payments, 0.44% lifetime net loss rate on asset-based deals since inception.† The difference is structural: concentrated corporate loans with redemption windows that close at manager discretion vs. asset-based finance with 6–24 month deal terms. 14.6% net ABS returns LTM after losses (3/31/26).† Starting at $500.
Alternative investments are speculative. No assurance can be given that investors will receive a return of their capital. †Past performance is not indicative of future results. Terms apply.
TOOLS
Trending AI Tools
💡 Gemini Omni - Google's new flagship multimodal model with standout video understanding capabilities
⚙️ Antigravity CLI - Google's lightweight terminal tool for spinning up Antigravity agents with the same harness and models as the web app
🤖 Google AI Studio - Google's no-code app builder that created 250,000 Android apps in its first week, now with Play Store publish support
🚀 Manus Project - AI agent platform now on mobile, with shared project files, instructions, and scheduled tasks across devices
NEWS
What Matters in AI Right Now?
Researchers found that large reasoning models achieve a 97.14% jailbreak success rate across nine tested AI systems, with no specialized knowledge required. The study calls this "alignment regression," a pattern where safety guardrails weaken as reasoning capabilities increase.
The New York Times reported that U.S. courts imposed $145,000 in sanctions against lawyers in Q1 2026 alone for citing AI-hallucinated cases that don't exist. The findings signal courts are moving from warnings to financial penalties as AI use in legal filings accelerates.
Google shifted its Search to AI-generated answers at I/O 2026, reducing direct links to third-party sites with the new "personal intelligence" mode. Critics describe the move as Google "declaring war on the web," turning publishers into unpaid raw material for its AI summaries.
ClickUp carried out a mass layoff this week, with the cuts framed as a signal for how AI is reshaping the future of work. The move follows similar workforce reductions at Intuit and other tech firms citing AI-driven efficiency gains.
Google AI Studio hit 250,000 Android apps built in its first week, with more than 99% of builders having never created an Android app before. Completed apps can now publish to the Play Store test track, with full store access rolling out this summer.
Manus rolled out Projects on mobile, with the update adding shared instructions, shared files, project-specific skills, and isolated connector setup. Scheduled tasks are also now available, letting users run Manus agents on a timer from their phone.
Google announced the Antigravity CLI, a lightweight tool for spinning up Antigravity agents directly from the terminal.
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Cheers, Jason
