'Change of era' prompts Catholic University of America to launch new degrees in AI

(OSV News) -- "We are not living an era of change," said Pope Francis in November 2015, "but a change of era."

Since the late pontiff addressed his words to a national conference of the Italian Catholic Church almost a decade ago, the pace of that change has perceptibly accelerated, with rapid developments in artificial intelligence in the headlines seemingly continuous and even dizzying.

An awareness of that reality could elicit many responses, including anxiety and indecision.

But at The Catholic University of America in Washington, the reaction has been strategic: to launch two new degree offerings, a bachelor of science and a master of science in artificial intelligence -- both of which will debut in the fall of 2025. Specialized tracks will include AI in health care, robotics, ethical AI design and large language models.

Aaron Dominguez, CUA provost and professor of physics, was already thinking about the potential programs in an embryonic state as he sat in the Vatican Gardens in October 2024 for the Builders Artificial Intelligence Forum, an interdisciplinary community dedicated to supporting the development of AI products that serve the church's mission.

Matthew Harvey Sanders -- CEO of Longbeard, a technology company building Catholic AI that and dubs itself as the "world's #1 answer engine for the Catholic Church" -- was leading the gathering.

"He convened about 80 of us," recalled Dominguez, "Catholics from around the world, there in the Vatican Gardens, to discuss this moment of AI in the church and the human person."

"And it was fascinating," added Dominguez, "because it was tech entrepreneurs, coders who work for big tech, university people like myself, venture capitalists, priests, philosophers, theologians, engineers -- but all Catholic, all faithful Catholics, all focused on this question."

Dominguez already had in mind what needed to come next.

"I was formulating our ethical AI master's program and undergraduate, and so that helped clarify some of my thinking on it," he said. "And then, lo and behold, we get an American pope; a mathematician. And he begins immediately talking about AI and the human person in the Catholic Church."

It felt like an imperative.

"We are the bishop's university; we are the Catholic Church's university in the United States," explained Dominguez. "We are working on this stuff. We are placed in Rome and in Washington, D.C. So you know, if God is not giving us a hint -- then I don't know what's happening."

Dominguez shared some important points relative to the new AI degree programs.

"We are in this change of era -- and I think Pope Leo recognizes this, too -- that is similar in nature to the Industrial Revolution, which changed culture and the nature of work, and the view of a human person," he said. "And maybe not everybody realizes it, but it has happened. And it means we're probably not going back."

Different types of AI, he observed, should also be conceived of -- and they should not be morally neutral, nor should they isolate their users.

"By design, it should encourage virtue," explained Dominguez, suggesting that a fundamental design rule "is that this interaction should ideally end up with an authentic human interaction -- so that I'm not just interacting with my phone -- but the output connects me with another person I can have an authentic, real interaction with."

Dominguez also added that, "We, as a society, need to start setting some limits on what is morally licit or ethical -- what we should not do."

Society in general -- and Catholic social teaching in particular -- has provided a framework for medical and bioethical issues, said Dominguez, and can do the same for AI.

"We should be setting up similar boundaries -- because they're not being set up -- about this kind of generative artificial intelligence. We should not be creating a machine like that that we can't control. So we need to start working on those problems, and pronto," Dominguez observed.

The CUA AI degrees, he added, are "a way to at least contribute to that effort -- and I'd love for Catholic University of America to really be the convener for all of these discussions, both here in Washington, D.C., and in Rome."

Digital AI bootcamps for bishops are on the horizon -- and ultimately, Dominguez hopes for the involvement of Pope Leo XIV himself.

While other institutions offer AI degrees, CUA's is fundamentally different -- because it blends the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition with every facet of study.

"That's our secret sauce, so to speak. Because we're a comprehensive, faithfully Catholic research university. If you integrate all of those things, that's what you get," explained Dominguez. "We're never going to outcompete MIT's AI Lab; they're an Institute of Technology. They have ethicists there, of course, and the world's best scientists -- but they don't have hundreds of theologians and philosophers wandering the halls."

He then issued an invitation.

"We're looking for students. We're looking for partners. We're looking for smart people; looking for donors," said Dominguez. "We're open for business, and we're all in."