Educating in the Age of AI

This presentation is part of the webinar series “Artificial Intelligence: New Social and Ethical Challenges and Opportunities”

Presenter: Luis Vera, Ph.D., Mount St. Mary’s University, MD
Wednesday, Dec. 10
7–8:15 p.m. EST via Zoom

AI is already destabilizing education on multiple fronts: Various applications promise substantial cost reductions and more personalized learning. Meanwhile, massive recourse to large language models (e.g., Chat GPT) by students is leading educators to express deep concerns about the place of writing in the curriculum, how to encourage students to learn and think for themselves, and how classrooms can remain places of trust rather than constant policing. How can Catholicism offer critical and constructive perspective in the face of these dynamics? This presentation explores this question in light of three key challenges: (a) Articulating the intrinsic goodness of students against persistent instrumentalizing trends in our educational traditions; (b) articulating the ‘horizontal’ value of education in relationship to the common good rather than career success; and (c) orienting towards an account of labor that is both integral and resistant to worker exploitation.

Registration is free.

REGISTER

Luis Vera, Ph.D., is associate professor and chair of the Department of Theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. A native of Venezuela, Dr. Vera earned his B.A. from the University of Georgia and an MTS and doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Vera’s research brings Catholic social teaching and moral theology into engagement with technology ethics. He is especially interested in the various interactions between our cognitive habits and our tool use, as well as how these interactions can best help cultivate virtue, contemplation, and the love of God and neighbor. He has published or presented on topics such as augmented reality, digital surveillance, concealed-carry handgun use, medieval reading practices, and the role of memory in framing attention and media use.

This is the FOURTH in a series of seven presentations. Click the titles below to learn about and register for the remaining presentations.

Presentation 1: Understanding AI: What It Is and Why It’s Important
Presentation 2: The Human and the Machine: Anthropological Questions
Presentation 3: The Social Impacts of Relational AI
Presentation 4: Educating in the Age of AI
Presentation 5: AI and Ethical Questions: The Impact on Health Care
Presentation 6: Environmental Impacts of AI: Hidden Costs and Inequalities
Presentation 7: The Future of AI: Marvel, Menace, and Mystery