St. Thomas University to pioneer societal AI ethics code

STU to increase AI ethics research, AI educational offerings & AI ethics thought leadership

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla., Aug. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Thomas University (STU) has assembled a new multidisciplinary task force to pioneer an artificial intelligence ethics code for society's betterment while accelerating efforts to create new AI-related classes, events and research.  

STU's new AI ethics task force will encourage more thought leadership by holding additional AI talks and panels and adding to the university's innovative AI curriculum, including an AI ethics certificate. STU has already created a new certificate in Applied AI. Dr. Timothy M. Stafford, an STU professor, educational futurist, AI ethicist, and expert in digital curriculum development, is chairing the university's AI task force.  

As a Catholic Archdiocesan university, STU is uniquely qualified to develop ethical standards, policies, and procedures for training AI models and their ultimate use. Leveraging STU's Ethical Leadership Institute, the university will incorporate a values-based approach to developing AI guidelines and best practices suitable for worldwide distribution and adoption.  

In addition, the university's Benjamin L. Crump College of Law will review current laws and shape future laws to ensure the legal field can keep pace with the rapidly evolving AI landscape while focusing on legal principles to address and solve complex ethical issues arising from new advancements in AI technology. 

"Artificial intelligence must help, not hinder life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," said St. Thomas President David A. Armstrong, J.D., who has overseen STU's 50% enrollment increase to nearly 6,500 students since 2018 and made STU one of America's 30th biggest Catholic colleges and universities of nearly 200. "STU is pioneering curriculum, research, and an ethical code for society to develop and use AI reliably, responsibly, impartially and transparently."  

Dr. Michelle Johnson-Garcia, STU's provost and chief academic officer, has assembled the university's new AI ethics task force, including academics, theologians, and experts from across the university. Task force members belong to the university's Institute for Ethical Leadership, Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, School of Theology and Ministry, Gus Machado College of Business, Biscayne College for the Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and other departments. 

St. Thomas University, Florida's only Roman Catholic archdiocesan university and one of just 11 nationwide, is building on the Vatican's global leadership role in advocating AI ethics. Pope Francis recently reiterated his calls for an international treaty for AI's ethical development and deployment.  

"Pope Francis recently reminded world leaders that AI will change how we live, our social lives, and no less than 'how we conceive of our identity as human beings,'" said the Most Reverend Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami. "St. Thomas University is heeding the Holy Father's call to unite people across borders, backgrounds, and faiths to realize AI's potential and avoid its perils."

In 2020, the Vatican issued its landmark "Rome Call for AI Ethics" pledge, signed by Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems, numerous universities, U.N. agencies, private corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and various Abrahamic faith leaders.  

"We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people's ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines," Pope Francis told world leaders last June at the 50th Group of Seven forum. "No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being."  

"New technologies have the potential to either accelerate what society is already doing well or amplify what society is doing poorly and unethically," Dr. Stafford said. "Artificial intelligence is so much more than its dangers. STU is committed to creating and being a model for effectively and ethically using AI for the greater good of society and its religious and educational institutions."  

About St. Thomas University
St. Thomas University (STU) is a private, non-profit Catholic institution committed to the academic and professional success of its students who become ethical leaders in our global community. Rich with cultural and international diversity, STU is the only Catholic Archdiocesan university in Florida. On our beautiful campus and online, the university's 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 offer 61 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degree programs. In 2020, STU launched our Limitless five-year strategic plan based on the pillars of limitless Devotion, limitless Opportunities, and limitless Results. The plan was conceived to provide students with a magical collegiate experience that incorporates mentoring faculty, character formation activities outside the classroom, and required real-world experience before graduation. 

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

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