The University of Notre Dame received a $539,000 grant from Lilly Foundation Inc. to support Faith-Based Frameworks for AI Ethics, a year-long planning project that will mobilize and build a network of leaders in higher education, technology, and a broad range of faith communities focused on developing faith-based ethical frameworks and their application. to emerging debates around artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI is a field of research aimed at developing and deploying software capable of rivaling human capabilities in self-organized learning, creativity, and generalized reasoning. This project will be led by the Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG).
“This is a pivotal moment for technology ethics,” said Meghan Sullivan, professor of philosophy at Wilsey Family College and director of ECG and Notre-Dame Ethics Initiative. “AGI is growing rapidly and has the potential to change our economies, our education systems and the fabric of our social life. We believe that the wisdom of religious traditions can make a significant contribution to the development of ethical frameworks for AGI.
“This project will encourage a broader dialogue about the role that concepts such as dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence, and being made in the image of God should play in how we understand and let’s use this technology. These concepts – which are foundational to many religious traditions – are essential to how we advance the common good in the age of AGI.
Notre Dame believes that faith-based ethical frameworks are essential to the ethical development and deployment of these new technologies, Sullivan added. Faith Frameworks for AI Ethics will seek to establish a unique and influential network of academics, technology industry leaders, and religious leaders to create, study, and disseminate complementary faith-based ethical frameworks to address this era of profound disruption.
This project will include asset mapping to identify and recruit key participants across the three sectors, focus groups to determine common faith and ethical commitments and priorities, and a landscape analysis to inform subsequent steps for coordinating participants and to catalyze this work. The project will culminate with a major conference in September 2025 that will focus on the most pressing religious issues related to the proliferation of AGI and provide training and networking opportunities for leaders who attend.
“We are grateful to the Lilly Endowment for this support, which will allow us to bring together a diverse group of technology experts, academics and faith leaders for important conversations about artificial general intelligence and all the ways it could have an impact on our society,” said David Go, vice president and associate dean for academic strategy. “As the world’s leading Catholic research university, Notre Dame has a special obligation to address the most important ethical questions of the day through scholarship, education and public engagement , and this conference will enable our university-wide ethics initiative to engage others to do just that.”
THE Institute for Ethics and the Common Good facilitates interdisciplinary research in basic and applied ethics, coordinates projects that cross departments and units, and supports education and public engagement efforts related to ethics. The ECG is a signature element of the Ethical Initiativewhich aims to make Notre Dame a leading global destination for the study of ethics, providing superb training for future generations of ethicists and moral leaders, a platform for engaging the Catholic moral tradition with d other modes of inquiry and an opportunity to forge insight into some of the most important ethical questions of our time.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private foundation established in 1937 by JK Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and JK Jr. through donations of stock from their pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly and Company. Although these donations remain the financial foundation of the Fund, it is a separate corporate entity, with a separate board of directors, staff and location. Consistent with the wishes of the founders, the Foundation supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and its home state of Indiana. One of the principal purposes of the Endowment’s religious grants is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by researching and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Fund also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate representations of the role religion plays in the United States and around the world.
Contact: Carrie Doorsassociate director of media relations, 574 993-9220, c.gates@nd.edu
