Can Pope Leo save us from AI?

Google is changing up its search engine. At its recent developer conference, among a host of new AI tools, it announced the biggest changes to Google Search in its history. What will we see now? An intelligent search box. Longer text predictions. More answers to search queries instead of a list of websites. But if Google keeps us inside the answer box, with fewer clicks and fewer website visits, this could potentially break the economic model of the modern web. How will this change the Internet and our experience of it?

Also this week:

To the Vatican, where Pope Leo XIV issued a document this week, calling for the ‘disarming’ of AI. In ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ (Magnificent Humanity), the Pope warned that AI must be subject to rigorous ethical constraints. How is the Vatican attempting to influence tech companies? And with Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah in attendance, Karen asks why are AI companies equally interested in religion?

Nicky has been following the latest developments with Roblox. The online gaming platform has 150 million daily users, many of them under 13. With a number of child safety groups urging the FTC to investigate the online gaming platform, could it be having its ‘big tobacco’ moment? The FTC alleges that it “repeatedly exposes children to sexual content and harmful adults.” What’s the solution? Roblox says it’s improving child safety systems, but how effectively can platforms of this size be moderated?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks, week by week, how technology is shaping all our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the stories that matter — whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

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