Hundreds of Canadian Catholic and public schools across the country ended 2024 victimized by a widespread cyber-attack breach of the PowerSchool student information system.

London Catholic District School Board spokesperson Mark Adkinson told media on Jan. 10 that the personal information of students and some staff were exposed, but social insurance and banking details are not uploaded to this portal.

Other school boards have also reported cyberattacks unrelated to PowerSchool.  

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Given how cyberattacks, deepfakes and other cybersecurity threats are growing like a gathering storm, the timing does appear ripe that Toronto's All Saints Church is offering a seminar Jan. 25 called Navigating AI with Faith and Wisdom: A Catholic Perspective.

It is conceptualized to help attendees understand and be fortified against the risks of a world driven by artificial intelligence, but also to recognize the opportunities it provides to transmit the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

The keynote speaker is Giancarlo Brotto, the founder and CEO of Pave Edu, Inc., an organization that guides schools, governments and businesses through AI adoption.

Brotto told The Catholic Register that believers should approach this new frontier like “there's no better time for our faith and our religion to shine.”

“The Church is calling us, and the Church has always called us from previous popes historically, to embrace science and technology,” said Brotto. “We were created in the image of God to be creators. We need to create. We don't have to be experts in it, but we need to look at everything through our lens because other people won't.”

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Brotto suggested that each Catholic need not become masters of every nuance in leveraging this technology, but there must be deep introspection among the faithful on how to utilize these tools to help others “see the moral, humanistic and ethical side of things,” and to promote human flourishing.

The long-time Toronto-based education strategist and public speaker commended the Vatican's Dicastery of Culture and Education’s Centre for Digital Culture for penning the 2024 book Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations. He intends to posit some of the same questions raised within the pages of this book during his presentation. What do we do? What does it look like in our lives? What is the response of the Church and the Catechism?

"The key principle is that technological innovation cannot and should never overtake or replace human beings," stated a Dec. 23 press release. "On the contrary, it should serve humanity and support and respect human dignity.”

The release also stated that “the aim is to make artificial intelligence a resource that, if properly regulated, will be able to foster well-being and progress, without compromising ethical and social principles.”

Catholic News Service reported that within the 13-page policy are prohibitions on AI that “cause discrimination; harm individuals physically or psychologically through subliminal manipulation; exclude people with disabilities; create social inequalities; demean human dignity; violate fundamental human rights; compromise Vatican City State security and public order; encourage criminal conduct; and conflict with 'the mission of the pope, the integrity of the Catholic Church and the proper operation' of the Vatican entities overseen by the governor's office.”

Detailed legislation and regulatory frameworks to support the guidelines are forthcoming.

A more comprehensive document to guide the worldwide Church in its stance towards and adoption of AI is expected before the end of the month. Both the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education jointly worked on this text that will examine the moral and societal implications of AI’s stunning evolution.

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It is likely that this document will repeat a piece of wisdom Brotto intends to impart during his presentation: we are a faith of encounter and relationships.

“We have to be able to connect with people physically versus connection with them with our devices,” said Brotto. “Even though we might be chatting with someone online, it should not replace the opportunity to connect with someone in person. We don't realize how much time (technology is) taking away. Unless we make the concerted effort to pay attention. And we have to do so more than ever before as a result of AI.”