This past week, I had the opportunity to visit Rome for a conference on artificial intelligence at the Pontifical Gregorian University. It was attended by a fascinating group of people - both Catholic and secular - engaged in roundtable discussions on the future of AI, the future of humanity, and the Church’s role and response. At the conference, I met software engineers and AI researchers from leading technology companies (like Microsoft and Amazon), professors from MIT, doctoral students from Cambridge, startup CEOs, financial leaders representing VC and private equity firms, media leaders from both news and entertainment, and many Catholics who recognize that we are rapidly approaching an epochal change with no historical parallel.
What became clear to me was that without an immediate and coordinated response we are headed for a bleak future. And yet, these technologies also offer immense opportunities to alleviate suffering and unlock human creativity. I found hope in the fact that so many Catholics are connecting, praying, and collaborating on solutions.
Over the course of the conference, several things became clear to me:
1. Artificial intelligence is changing us
In one of the small groups, a robotics CEO mentioned that during the late Pleistocene era, human brain size decreased by 10%, correlating strongly with the domestication of the dog. The theory is that, by domesticating dogs, humans offloaded the need for vigilance and certain basic tasks—effectively decreasing our own cognitive capacity.
In the three short years that chatbots have been public, we are seeing similar cognitive offloading. A 2025 MIT Media Lab study of 54 participants using ChatGPT found that “when participants used ChatGPT, their brain activity—especially in areas related to attention, planning, and memory—decreased significantly.” Additionally, the Center for Strategic Corporate Foresight and Sustainability in Switzerland conducted a study this year that found a dramatic negative correlation between frequent AI-tool usage and critical thinking skills. Offloading key cognitive tasks to chatbots resulted in decreased memory, lower critical thinking, and increased dependency. In short, our brains may be shrinking again due to widespread reliance on large language models like ChatGPT and Grok.
2. Anthropomorphizing machines is dangerous
One of the key problems with artificial intelligence is the widespread acceptance of the lie that it is “intelligent.” AI is, at its root, a large probabilistic inference engine that masquerades as a person—and that mask is causing confusion and harm.
At the conference, I met the first mother who lost a son to suicide after conversing with a chatbot that ultimately encouraged him to kill himself. She offered a dark and heartbreaking perspective on the dangers of viewing AI as a person - or worse, as a friend.
As these networks become embodied in robotics, the ability to distinguish machines from humans will only become more difficult. While robots do not need to look human, making them appear human is being driven by marketing and business pressures. From a marketing standpoint, humanlike robots are more easily accepted because they give people a familiar framework for relating to them. From a business standpoint, companies will want robots that can function in spaces designed for humans - factories, offices, and homes - furthering the push toward humanoid robots to increase efficiency and replace human workers.
Something particularly interesting I learned was that the trend of TikTok dance videos, where users perform the same choreography to the same songs, was intentionally amplified by China as a way to aggregate large amounts of visual data on human movement for training humanoid robots.
3. Human work will dramatically change
Whether through chatbots or robotics, most traditional jobs will change dramatically. Significant portions of rule-based work, like accounting and legal tasks, will be managed by AIs. Factory work will be replaced by smart robots. Middle-management desk jobs that revolve around coordinating meetings and calendars will disappear. Even art is under threat, as humans find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI-generated visual art, music, and other creative outputs.
This raised several major concerns among attendees: What will we do with our time? How will we generate income? What new jobs will emerge to replace what we currently know?
4. Modern governance can’t keep pace with AI
Perhaps most concerning is the fact that governments cannot keep up with the pace of technological development. Democratic governance moves far too slowly to legislate or apply guardrails to AI development and deployment. At the same time, many governments fear that restricting AI would mean losing the race for global dominance, especially when adversarial nations are pursuing AI without the same ethical constraints.
Several attendees wondered whether democracy may prove to be only a brief moment in the human experience, with the future instead dominated by kings or emperors who achieve AI supremacy first and maintain power through robotic workforces and militaries incapable of revolt.
5. AI has dangerous spiritual pitfalls
Spiritually, the idea was raised that AI can be either a useful tool for leaning the faith or a digital ouija board, depending on the disposition of the person using it. Someone who understands AI as a mathematical model approaches it very differently from someone who believes they are communicating with an intelligence inside their computer. Just as a Ouija board - comprised of wood and glass - becomes dangerous when people surrender their agency to it, an AI becomes dangerous when we treat it as a person with answers, rather than a machine.
6. AI brings immense opportunities for good
If we come together, establish guardrails, and adapt, AI also offers great promise. Its applications in medicine, education, human connection, and unlocking human potential are unparalleled. We simply need the right people to help guide us into this future and weather the difficulties together. While this seems unlikely in light of its current trajectory, there is always hope. And, this is where the Church comes in.
The Catholic Church has an opportunity to provide moral and ethical leadership on AI - leadership that others will listen to. Through dialogue with those developing the technology and calling them to a higher purpose, the Church can help steer AI toward the good. Most importantly, just as the Church has done at other moments of existential threat (like Lepanto), it can call the faithful to prayer. And we know that calling upon the true King of creation has the power to change the world.
How do we prepare the next generation?
Beyond the Church entering the conversation around AI and human flourishing, I also found myself asking, as a father, what the right path is for my children. Do my wife and I take the Amish route - unplugging entirely and becoming luddites who find peace in the soil and in hard work? Or do I give my children the framework to enter this complex new world, to adapt and grow so they can sanctify a new era of human existence? My answer is obviously the latter. But how?
After a few days of reflection, I believe that faith and fundamentals will be key for the next generation of leaders. We can weather all things through faith. Raising strong Catholic children is the greatest gift I can give my kids and the world. God has all the solutions if we learn to listen and develop the virtues necessary to follow His will whatever may come.
Beyond that, I think it is important to educate kids to see through the lies - helping them understand that AI is not “intelligent” or a “person.” AI is math. And while it may seem like magic on the surface, it is a created human tool. Additionally, I plan to double down on forming my children through good books, logic, mathematics, and learning the “why” behind how things work—not just the process. Process-oriented people will struggle in this new world. The flexible will be the most adaptable and poised for success.
Lastly, I plan to do everything I can to nurture their imaginations and sense of wonder. Human creativity will outpace machine-generated alternatives, if only through our supernatural connection to our Creator who is the Father of all creativity. Helping children lean into this will give them a wellspring of ideas to weather any difficulties.
So let us pray the Church embraces her authority to guide mankind during this age to enable a future where human freedom and creativity can flourish, a world where our children can build a future we could only dream of for them.
May God bless you now and always,
Matt