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SSRN: Backer maps covert belief premises shaping how regulators cast generative AI
In a 57-page essay posted to SSRN on October 12, 2026, Larry Catá Backer argues that generative AI regulation rests on a prior, usually unstated question of whether the object of regulation is understood as god, golem, monster or instrument. He reads Pope Leo XIV’s 2026 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas as one answer, extracts eight premises from it, and uses a worked example from the EU AI Act to show what picture of AI a regulatory instrument carries.
Key points
- Backer posted the essay on SSRN on October 12, 2026.SSRN
- He reads generative AI as a kaiju reflecting human self-projection into virtual and machine forms.SSRN
- He argues regulators covertly cast AI as god, golem, monster or instrument.SSRN
- He reads Pope Leo XIV’s 2026 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas as one answer to that question and extracts eight premises from it.SSRN
- A worked example from the EU AI Act shows what picture of AI a regulatory instrument carries, the abstract says.SSRN