President of Católica advocates “ethical adoption” of artificial intelligence in higher education

How can Catholic universities remain faithful to their humanistic and ethical mission in the age of algorithms and artificial intelligence? This is the starting point for the opinion piece written by the Presidentr of Católica, Isabel Capeloa Gil, now published in L'Osservatore Romano, in which she analyses the challenges and opportunities brought by Artificial Intelligence to higher education.

Entitled ‘Between opportunism and catastrophism, the third way of ethical adoption,’ Isabel Capeloa Gil, who is also president of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU), argues that "the current crisis is characterised by two dominant narratives. The first is the narrative of opportunity; the second, that of catastrophe. Between the two, there is a third way: ethical adoption."

Thus, on the one hand, from his perspective, artificial intelligence offers an ‘unprecedented technical opportunity,’ which translates into greater organisational efficiency, teams free to engage in more meaningful and value-driven actions, rapid data processing, and accelerated research, innovation, and economic development. ‘For students, artificial intelligence broadens access to knowledge, enables personalised learning, improves communication and fosters new forms of collaboration. This promising narrative dominates our era. However, it carries risks,’ warns Isabel Capeloa Gil.

In her opinion, dependence on social networks and reduced attention span, concentration and memory are effects that can result from the use of Artificial Intelligence. ‘In the emerging battle between bots and the brain, the result is too often not cognitive improvement, but intellectual complacency and laziness,’ she counters.

Isabel Capeloa Gil also points to ‘growing market pressure from technology companies’ that universities face, noting that ‘institutional discourse often tends towards technological determinism, leaving universities powerless in the face of change.’

It is in this context that a third hypothesis arises. ‘Universities are not passive. Many are working towards ethical adoption: safeguarding human-centred education, limiting excessive dependence on the market and protecting against the erosion of institutional identity,’ emphasises the rector of Católica and president of SACRU.

“In a world that tends towards uniformity, Catholic universities must remain fully committed, free and autonomous, preserving their distinctive identity. Rooted in the radical defence of human dignity, they are called to promote technologically responsible and ethically grounded progress. They are guardians of an integral ecology of knowledge, exercising intelligence in its fullest sense, welcoming technology when it serves human dignity and limiting it when it threatens it," he concludes in his article in L'Osservatore Romano.