Inside the walls of the Biblioteca Vallicelliana—a 16th-century library founded by St. Philip Neri—an international conference organized by the University of Notre Dame Australia explored the dialogue between St. John Henry Newman and artificial intelligence, ahead of his declaration as Doctor of the Church.
In an ever-evolving age of technology, there are many concerns about how the fast development of Artificial Intelligence is impacting future generations and whether it is replacing their skill of thinking for themselves, something that Saint John Henry Newman emphasized throughout his work. The now Doctor of the Church, stressed the importance of forming the mind and developing a good judgment between right and wrong.
Sr. Catherine Joseph Droste, Professor of Theology at the Angelicum, counseled, “We need to be in dialogue because younger generations are using it much more, but they may not have the wisdom to discern how to use it well. And for that, I think older generations need to enter into it and take a dive, in a sense, so that we can talk with one another and see how can we best use it.”
A significant challenge that comes with the growing pace of AI, is its effect on education and many question how it can be assured that students today and in the future are obtaining their degrees honestly. Andrew Meszaros, who holds the Saint John Henry Newman Chair in Theology at the Angelicum, believes that this is a massive challenge:
“If we’re satisfied with students creating a product, producing something like producing a finished essay or producing a poster or producing a video or something as a project, and they use AI to complete that project, then fair enough, it’s a tool and it can be used in that way. But if we’re not assessing the product, but if we’re assessing the way that they think then I’m afraid that AI is actually an obstacle to assessing them correctly or assessing what they really, truly know.”
AI has also become inseparable to social media, guiding feeds, ads, interactions and the way we connect, making these platforms very influential, especially on young minds. Australian ambassador to the Holy See, Keith Pitt, explains the introduction of a new Australian Law which prohibits anyone under the age of 16 accessing social media:
“It’s been coming for some time and mostly will be in force in December of this year, 2025. It’s simply about the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that social media has a negative impact on children. And so Australia has put forward laws and regulations that require the platform providers to ensure their users are over the age of 16. So it is effectively a ban on social media for children.”
Artificial intelligence can serve as a guide for how young people’s minds work and how they think. The importance of forming the mind and conscience was one of Saint John Henry Newman’s biggest talking points. If he were alive today, Meszaros asked, would he be a supporter of AI:
“I think like any technology, I think John Henry Newman would be curious and he would explore it and he might even use it and he might even use it to great effect. I think he would be incredibly cautious, however, about its effect on us, its effect on interpersonal relationships.”
Adapted by Jacob Stein. Produced by Alexey Gotovskiy.
