Artificial intelligence (AI) is already changing our lives, especially in the labor and educational fields. It has burst onto the scene with a rapid and spectacular penetration capacity. This week, university entrance exams begin: most students will surely have used AI during high school and to prepare for these exams. It is an evolving tool that they already have perfectly incorporated into their daily lives. In our jobs, we adults are noticing the same. In many cases, it is also already part of our routines.
Pope Leo XIV, who will visit Catalonia starting tomorrow, has focused his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, precisely on AI, warning of the danger that it may sharpen social and economic biases and become a tool for platform capitalism to dominate over the human condition and the freedom that is – or should be – intrinsic to it. Undoubtedly, AI is a great help and stimulus if it is put at the service of people, but not if it is in the hands of a few tech magnates with a thirst for power: there is a risk of going hand in hand towards new and sophisticated forms of digital authoritarianism.
But in a more prosaic and at the same time more immediate area, there are other risks. For example, the adoption of AI in the Catalan technological sector is already beginning to wreak havoc on the workforce, especially among the youngest. According to the latest report "Digital talent overview", by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona foundation, job offers for junior workers among Barcelona's ICT companies fell by approximately 27% in 2025 compared to 2023. In contrast, in the same period, demand for ICT employees with intermediate experience grew by 21.7%, and for senior profiles by 15%. In other words, the tasks of junior profiles are those that are being automated by AI chatbots. Digital companies prioritize profiles with greater capacity for execution, adaptation, and integration into established teams. The conclusion is obvious: if we don't give opportunities to prepared young people, how will we have senior profiles in the future? Are we facing the possibility of a lost generation? The data indicate that, until recently, 10% of interns in the ICT sector ended up becoming employees, a percentage that has been halved to 5%.
Technology is part of the success of the human species. It is a core element of our culture. It has made us evolve and has given us dominion over planet Earth. An evolution not exempt from great social crises, with circumstantial winners and losers. The giant changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution are well studied. Where is the post-industrial revolution of AI taking us? It is a question that concerns the Pope, concerns young people, and should concern all of us. It is a fabulous tool if used for collective progress, if it makes us more autonomous and freer – not more dehumanized subjects –, if we know how to generate green energies to power it, if we know how to dialogue and benefit from its generative capacity, and if we make it respect the intellectual property of the content and data that feed it.
