RATIONAL AI By Michael A. Covington AI companies measure usage in “tokens.” What are those, and how can we control how many we’re using? Before you ask that, you may wonder whether it’s even worth counting things that are priced at a few dollars per million, or even a few cents per million. How would […]

ISSUE 23.38 • 2026-09-21 RATIONAL AI By Michael A. Covington Pope Leo XIV has issued an encyclical about digital culture and artificial intelligence. In what follows, I’ll summarize what computer professionals need to know about it, referencing its sections for those who want to dig deeper. I won’t address religious or political claims, theology, whether […]