THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S AND HOLY CROSS ESTABLISHED 1966
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025 | VOL. LX, NO. 13
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ND launches ethical framework for AI use By Megan Cornell and Sophie Hanawalt
Associate News Editor and Notre Dame News Editor
University leaders, business executives, academics, journalists and other prominent individuals have gathered on campus this week for the Notre Dame Summit on AI, Faith and Human Flourishing, hosted by the University’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative. The summit plans to discuss the role ethics can play in society’s adaptation to the rise of generative AI, with a particular emphasis on Catholic virtue. From Monday through Thursday, attendees will reexamine the role of Catholic voices in navigating the ways generative AI is transforming human life through a series of lectures and discussion sessions. The University also officially presented DELTA, a new framework for navigating responsible AI use, at the summit. The acronym stands for dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence and agency. The framework is designed to be a faith-informed resource for institutions grappling with ethical questions surrounding the opportunities and challenges presented by AI. Beyond an opening
REDMOND BERNHOLD | The Observer
Professor and director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Ethics Initiative Meghan Sullivan presents her keynote address at the Notre Dame Summit on AI, Faith and Human Flourishing.
Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart with Cardinal Christophe Pierre, which took place Monday at 5:15 p.m., the summit has thus far included a keynote address detailing the new DELTA framework by professor Meghan Sullivan. The conference featured a Tuesday afternoon lecture on AI and the dignity of work by Molly Kinder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, as well as a Wednesday
morning session, “The Human Vocation in an Era of AI,” led by Mike Sacasas, the executive director of the Christian Study Center in Gainesville, Florida.
Opening Mass
To initiate the summit, Pierre presided over a Mass in the Basilica on Monday evening. Pierre, who received an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame in
Pope Leo XIV canonizes teenager Carlo Acutis By Matthew Morin
2024, is the apostolic nuncio to the United States, meaning he serves as the Vatican’s ambassador. In his homily, Pierre discussed the intersection of AI and Catholic social teaching, especially as it relates to the dignity of work, human dignity and care for God’s creation. “Prudence insists that AI must not be used in ways that undermine human dignity or fragment communities,”
he said. Relating to the dignity of work, he warned that “technology must not enslave but serve,” adding that “AI might reduce employment, but for the Church, work is more than income.” According to Pierre, work “engages both our hands and hearts in shaping the world.” Pierre further noted that reliance on AI might exacerbate existing inequalities. “AI has the potential to deepen the gap between those who benefit and those who are left behind. These are questions not only of efficiency but also of fairness, questions of justice,” he said. Given these concerns, Pierre believes that as a leading Catholic university, Notre Dame has a unique duty to “shape a global Catholic voice on the ethics of artificial intelligence.” He concluded his homily by urging attendees to use human innovation in ways that glorify the Lord and approach AI with wisdom. “Let us not approach AI with fear. Let us approach it with wisdom. The wisdom that comes from God,” Pierre said.
Keynote address In her Sullivan,
keynote address, the founding
see “AI” page 2
Crime increases near Eddy Street By Megan Cornell
Few saints, now including Carlo Acutis, have lived to see the 21st century. The most recent addition, Acutis was canonized on Sept. 7, just 19 years after his death. Born in May 1991, Acutis grew up in northern Italy, where he was raised in a relatively secular household. Best known for creating a list of confirmed Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions, which he published on a self-designed website, Acutis also spent much of his time in Eucharistic adoration
and prayer, as noted by Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal. Although Acutis is often associated with his website, Tim O’Malley, a Notre Dame professor at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, emphasized that Acutis was “only mildly dedicated to technology.” “After all, he used the Internet to write about Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions. None of this made him a saint, but his love of the Mass, the natural world (he was very concerned about the ecological crisis), and the poor of Milan,” O’Malley wrote in a statement
to The Observer. “In the end, tech was an instrument for St. Carlo, one that he used in the most ascetic of ways.” Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a professor of American studies and history at Notre Dame, noted that Acutis’ use of technology gives her hope about its power for good. “To have an example in Saint Carlo of someone who used the latest technology to evangelize is really an inspiration and also a sign of hope that there’s not only something redeemable about new
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Acclaimed French film captures the quiet horror of mundane life.
The 2nd-ranked Irish welcome defending national champion North Carolina on Wednesday.
No. 21 Notre Dame beat Wright State to extend their winning streak.
News Writer
Ukrainian rock star
Debate
see “Acutis” page 3
Jeanne Dielman
Associate News Editor
Two weeks ago, multiple gunshots were fired at Eddy Street Commons during the Notre Dame v. Texas A&M game, damaging two apartments and five vehicles. Last weekend, shots were fired near the same area early Sunday morning, this time damaging a window at the Embassy Suites hotel. According to a press release issued by the South Bend Police Department (SBPD), the Violent Crimes Unit is investigating both incidents. No arrests have been made in
Women’s soccer
either case. In a video posted to the SBPD’s facebook page, police chief Scott Ruszkowski condemned the violence. “Being decent human beings, having some decorum, having respect for other people, is the bottom line. That is the easiest solution to any of this. To go down [to Eddy Street] and display firearms, or yell obscenities or profanities at someone you don’t like, that just makes no sense to me.” Ruszkowski said. The close proximity of these events have raised concerns about safety near Notre Dame’s see “Crime” page 4
Men’s soccer