St. Thomas University Launches Multi-Pronged Plan to Promote Ethical AI

STU to inform research and artificial intelligence policies by creating a new AI Research & Ethics Network. AIREN will systematize and synthesize AI ethics research and label ethical and bad AI use.

MIAMI, April 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --St. Thomas University's Institute for Ethical Leadership announced on Wednesday that it has created a new Artificial Intelligence Research & Ethics Network (AIREN) to promote ethical AI use worldwide.

STU will partner with AI ethics experts and scholars worldwide to find, systematically review, and synthesize scholarly works to create a comprehensive collection of research resources while tracking their reach and impact.

AI will assist the experts in identifying the key studies and findings to populate AIREN's online database. The AIREN research network and platform will feature advanced search and discovery tools for users to find gaps in society's understanding of AI ethics and propose policy solutions.

For the first phase of AIREN's multi-stage launch, STU is developing a free, publicly searchable research database that will aggregate, curate, summarize, and critique the latest AI ethics studies.

For AIREN's second phase, STU will create a new Ethical AI Labeling Program, much like nutritional labels and seals of approval, to evaluate the transparency, efficacy, biases, and benefits of AI software, uses, companies, and industry players.

STU's Institute for Ethical Leadership will develop a standardized ethical assessment framework to evaluate AI systems' attributes, risks, and ramifications while presenting the findings with user-friendly visualization tools.

Future AIREN phases could include STU's creation of a design innovation lab for ethical AI methodologies and systems, a policy lab for evidence-based recommendations for AI developers and users, and an AI development hub to build ethical applications.

"Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said, 'Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do,'" said STU President David A. Armstrong, J.D. "AIREN will help society create, regulate, and innovate with AI for generations to come. AIREN is the intersection at which academic excellence and ethical leadership meet technological innovation."

As an affiliate of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, St. Thomas University is proud to help the Catholic Church continue its worldwide leadership on AI ethics. In 2020, the Vatican issued its landmark "Rome Call for AI Ethics" pledge, signed by Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems, numerous universities, U.N. agencies, companies, NGOs, and faith leaders. 

"Pope Francis has called for AI to be developed and used in a way that promotes human dignity and the common good, rather than exacerbating inequalities or serving the interests of a few," said the Most Reverend Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami.  "STU's AIREN seeks to ensure that artificial intelligence and human intelligence develop within the constraints of ethics and morality."

Dr. Henry Mack, STU's Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, has led the push for the university's Ethical Leadership Institute to create AIREN.

"In an age of rapid technological advancement, STU's AIREN initiative will remind the world that societies stand or fall on the strength of their ethical values," Dr. Mack said. "This effort is an attempt to ground the application of AI in the Common Good, in view of authentic human flourishment."

STU is also proud to announce that Dr. Jaime Franco recently joined the university to serve as director of the university's Institute for Ethical Leadership and oversee AIREN's implementation. Dr. Franco, who most recently served as a professor of international business and global leadership at Florida International University, has decades of experience in corporate leadership advising and academia.

Join STU's waitlist to learn about the university's upcoming AIREN "Listen and Learn" event. For additional information, please contact Dr. Franco at [email protected].

About St. Thomas University
St. Thomas University (STU) is one of the South's premier Catholic universities. It is a private, nonprofit institution committed to fostering students' academic and professional success and helping them become ethical leaders in the global community. Rich with cultural and international diversity, STU is a Miami Archdiocesan university, the only archdiocesan university in Florida, and one of just 11 nationwide. STU offers more than 60 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degree programs online and on the university's beautiful Miami Gardens via its College of Nursing, College of Health Sciences & Technology, Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, Gus Machado College of Business, and Biscayne College for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. As of spring 2025, STU served 7,660 undergraduate, graduate, and dual enrollment students, a 78% increase since President David A. Armstrong, J.D., took office in the fall of 2018. STU is completing $123 million in improvements, its biggest expansion since its 1961 founding, including adding 400,000 square feet of new facilities. Among other objectives, President Armstrong's new "Pursue Excellence" strategic plan seeks to build a new 99,000-square-foot STEM and nursing building, expand the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, and construct new athletic facilities.

Media Contact: Dan Axelrod | St. Thomas University | [email protected] | 305.474.2418 

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