# Today's Poll Question: Will AI-assisted Warfare Ultimately Save Lives? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/today-s-poll-question-will-ai-assisted-warfare-ultimately-save-lives Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/today-s-poll-question-will-ai-assisted-warfare-ultimately-save-lives.md Podcast: [The Smerconish Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155) Published: 2026-05-26T14:40:46+00:00 Episode link: https://www.siriusxm.com Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/sxm.simplecastaudio.com/d49edecb-af71-4e40-b63b-f7bdc3faae1b/episodes/054ab04e-56dd-4c54-a0d2-dde9bc659c50/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=d49edecb-af71-4e40-b63b-f7bdc3faae1b&awEpisodeId=054ab04e-56dd-4c54-a0d2-dde9bc659c50&feed=Dv1m2CJC Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/episodes/today-s-poll-question-will-ai-assisted-warfare-ultimately-save-lives Duration seconds: 761 ## Resource Michael traces an unexpected through line from his very first talk radio show in 1993 — centered on a papal encyclical — to Pope Leo XIV’s new warning about artificial intelligence and modern warfare. The Pope argues AI could make war easier to wage and harder to control, while supporters say AI-driven targeting may actually reduce civilian casualties and battlefield mistakes. Michael explores the ethical tension between technological precision and moral responsibility, including the growing role of autonomous systems, Palantir, and algorithmic warfare. Is AI removing dangerous human emotion from combat — or making conflict dangerously impersonal? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/episodes/today-s-poll-question-will-ai-assisted-warfare-ultimately-save-lives/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/today-s-poll-question-will-ai-assisted-warfare-ultimately-save-lives.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.