St Mary’s University’s Gillis Centre in Edinburgh has held a conference looking at a wide range of issues connected with artificial intelligence (AI). The event, which was curated by Dr Stephen Dolan and sponsored by the CCLA, took place on the 2nd and 3rd September 2025.
The conference coincides with the Vatican’s ongoing study of the relationship between artificial intelligence and ethical challenges across a wide range of fields such as medicine, the world of work and social life. Pope Leo XIV has made clear that this interest will continue, and that there is an obligation on the Church more widely to respond to help better understand the moral implications of AI.
In attendance were numerous experts, many of whom are working at the frontier in this area. Speakers included Michael Baggot, Professor of Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome and Matthew Sanders, Chief Executive of Longbeard and Architect of Magisterium AI, Vulgate AI and the Christendom app.
Professor of Catholic Social Thought and Public Policy Philip Booth said, “The frontiers of AI and the relationship with ethics connects to a number of areas of research within the University, not least in the Centre for Bio-ethics and Emerging Technologies. We are looking at what could be a revolutionary technology, and indeed, it is already affecting university life at St Mary’s.”
Dr Stephen Dolan added, “This conference was a fantastic opportunity for St Mary’s and the Gillis Centre to host such wide-ranging opinions on a live and cutting-edge topic. The room was full of a healthy scepticism and optimism, and it was clear that there is no settled opinion on how AI and the Social Doctrine of the Church will relate in the future, but a clear commitment to learning and developing our understanding of both so that the Church might remain a leader in advocating for a more develop understanding of what it means to be human in the age of AI.”