Scholas Chairs Congress: AI must liberate, not enslave

By Vatican News

A summit on “Artificial Intelligence and Human Sense”, held at the United in Diversity (UID) campus in Bali as part of the 11th International Congress of Scholas Chairs, concluded on 6 September. Over the course of three days, more than 200 academic and social leaders, religious authorities, entrepreneurs, politicians, and young people from 35 countries issued an unexpected challenge in the midst of the technological revolution: to stop asking only what Artificial Intelligence can do, and to start asking what human beings want to do with it.

A resource for freedom

Participants in the Congress, an initiative of Scholas Occurrentes, included Monsignor Indunil Janakaratne Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage, Secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, whose presence complemented that of Alaa Murabit, an activist and founder of “The Voice of Libyan Women”.

Monsignor Indunil noted that “Artificial Intelligence must liberate, not enslave,” emphasizing that education must cultivate the inner capacity for discernment and lead from virtual connection to human communion; he further stressed that teaching young people to use AI critically, responsibly, and creatively is a task that concerns everyone.

Participants in the Scholas Chairs Congress

The Monsignor’s words were echoed by the deeply moving testimony—delivered through tears—of Ataxia, a 20-year-old Indonesian woman: “Artificial Intelligence has no meaning on its own; it is up to human beings to give it meaning.”

Conceived by Scholas as a “Forum of Forums,” the summit applied its pedagogy of listening, creating, and celebrating, utilizing the “Agora” methodology to address one of the great questions of our time: What happens to human meaning when algorithms play an increasingly significant role in our decisions, relationships, work, and ways of learning? The program featured plenary sessions, a Youth Forum, seven Dialogue Agoras, experiential workshops, and cross-sector roundtables covering identity, education and wisdom, mental health, the future of work, democracy and peace, AI governance, and human meaning.

 “The challenge of our time,” said María Paz Jurado, Executive Director of Scholas Occurrentes, “is not merely to ask what technology can do, but what kind of humanity we wish to build with it. In presenting Magnifica humanitas, Leone XIV invited us to safeguard what no machine can replace: conscience, freedom, compassion, and the encounter with the other. That is why we need an education capable of guiding both human and artificial intelligence, ensuring that progress strengthens dignity, fraternity, and peace.”

Two years since Pope Francis’s visit

The summit revisited the “culture of encounter” and “algor-ethics” [the ethical development of algorithms] championed by Pope Francis, marking the second anniversary of his apostolic journey to Indonesia and the signing of the Istiqlal Declaration.

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It also engaged with Magnifica humanitas—Leo XIV’s encyclical on protecting the human person in the age of AI—and embraced the Balinese concept of “Tri Hita Karana”, which is rooted in harmony between humanity, nature, and the divine. During the conference, participants identified five major challenges posed by artificial intelligence: fostering wisdom; cultivating healthy emotional intelligence; encouraging active citizenship engaged with current challenges; preparing for jobs that do not yet exist; and training leaders for a new model of global governance.

Next stop: Brazil in 2027

At the close of the conference, Brother Paulo Fossati, the representative for Catholic education in Brazil, announced that the conversation would not end in Bali: “We will all move forward with this debate together in Brazil in September 2027”.

Brazil will thus host the next world congress, continuing a journey that began in Vatican City in 2014.