Can AI build a Babel Tower in schools?

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Highlights

- Today we are exploring a really fascinating piece from Vatican News, an article by Isabella Piro, reporting on Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, a document called ‘Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence’.
- It’s not just about integrating a new tool; it's about fundamentally rethinking how we prepare students to navigate this pivotal choice.
- It's about ensuring students don't develop what I call "cognitive debt" from over-reliance on AI, where they outsource their thinking along with the doing.
- The encyclical also talks about "social justice" and "peace." And this brings us directly to the role of AI as an equalizer.
- Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical pushes us firmly into Box 2 thinking.

Transcript

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If this episode makes you think, please let us know in the comments and support us by subscribing and leaving a review. Thank you. Today we are exploring a really fascinating piece from Vatican News, an article by Isabella Pierrot, reporting on Pope Leo XIV Thiefan's First Encyclical, a document called Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. Now you might be thinking, what does a papal encyclical have to do with my classroom or my school leadership? And that's a fair question. But what I found so compelling about this piece wasn't the theological angle, which is of course important in its own context, but the profoundly human and universal principles that Pope Leo XIV lays out. It's a call to arms for humanity really, to ensure that AI truly serves us, rather than letting it concentrate power or diminish our essential human qualities. The article opens with this really powerful image, quoting the Pope. Humanity created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice. Either to construct a new tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. Now that to me is such a strike and metaphor for where we are with artificial intelligence. The Tower of Babel, right? A story about human ambition, about technology, built without a unifying, human-centered purpose, leading to confusion and fragmentation. And the Pope is asking us, are we going to let AI become another Babel, a tool that fragments us, that creates division and power imbalances, or are we going to use it to build something more cohesive, more deeply human? And this is the bit that really got me thinking about education, because if we believe in the human in the loop principle, if we believe in enhancement, not replacement, then Pope Leo thought encyclical gives us a powerful why. It's not just about integrating a new tool, it's about fundamentally rethinking how we prepare students to navigate this pivotal choice. It's about teaching them not to outsmart machines, but to outthink them, to be the humans who ensure AI serves humanity. The encyclical appeals for the safeguarding of humanity, promotion of truth, dignity of work, social justice and peace. And frankly, these aren't just lofty ideals for the Vatican, they are or should be the core business of education. So let's unpack how these ideas, these guiding lights from the Pope, can actually reshape what we do in schools. Take safeguarding of humanity. What does that mean for a year seven science lesson? It means when students are used in AI to research a topic, the real value isn't in what the machine produces but in how the student responds. It's about teaching them to critically evaluate, to question the output, to infuse their own wonder and judgment. We're safeguarding their capacity for critical thought, for human inquiry, rather than letting AI just spoon feed them information. It's about ensuring students don't develop what I call cognitive debt from over reliance on AI, where they outsource their thinking along with the doing. Then there's the promotion of truth. In an age of deep fakes and increasingly convincing AI generated content, this is absolutely paramount. How do we teach students to discern truth? It means we need to bake AI literacy into every subject. It's not about learning to code, it's about understanding AI's limitations and failure modes, about managing AI conversations with precision, and developing a reflective awareness of AI's influence. Think about an English literature class. Instead of just asking students to write an essay, perhaps you use AI to generate several essays on a theme, some intentionally flawed or biased, and the student's task is to critique them, to identify the biases, to determine accuracy, and then to transform them into something that truly resonates with human experience. That's an application of the edit framework for evaluating AI outputs, but framed by this profound purpose of promoting truth. And what about the dignity of work? This is huge for how we prepare students for the future. AI is going to automate so many tasks, so many doings. So what's left for humans? The Pope's message implicitly reinforces my core philosophy. Machines can compute, but they cannot wonder, they cannot care, they cannot exercise complex judgment. So our educational mission becomes about cultivating those uniquely human attributes. It's about design and learning that cannot be faked because it demands depth, care and imagination. For a vocational course, this might mean using AI to handle the repetitive design aspects of a project, but the student's learning is in the client consultation, the creative problem solving, the ethical considerations of their design's impact, and the hands-on craft that requires a human touch. We're outsourcing the doing, not the thinking. The encyclical also talks about social justice and peace. And this brings us directly to the role of AI as an equalizer. We know that AI can bridge gaps, supporting students with IEPs, multilingual learners, and providing differentiation for that often invisible middle 80% of students. But it also comes with risks like embedded bias. Popolio 14th's call for social justice means we have a responsibility to teach students how to identify and challenge that bias. In a year nine geography lesson, for instance, students might use AI to analyze demographic data for urban planning, but the critical part of the lesson is to then discuss what biases might be present in the data sets AI is trained on, or in the solutions it proposes, and how those biases could perpetuate injustice. It moves beyond just using the tool to actively shape in a more just and peaceful world with the tool. What the Pope is essentially saying is that we need to start with purpose, not technology. He's giving us a why that's bigger than any app or algorithm. It reminds me so much of the three box model of innovation. Box one is about linear innovation, doing what we do better. Yes, AI can help with automated grading or lesson planning. But box two, nonlinear innovation, that's about asking the bigger questions, reimagining education entirely. Pope Leo Fortin's encyclical pushes us firmly into box two thinking. How do we reimagine education to cultivate wonder, care, judgment, relationship, imagination, wisdom, and ethics? Those things AI cannot do. Think about a school leader drafting their school development plan. It's easy to say we'll integrate AI, but Pope Leo Thorwine Fifth's message challenges us to ask how will our integration of AI promote truth, dignity of work, social justice and peace among our students and staff? It turns AI from a technical implementation challenge into a profound opportunity for human flourishing. It puts the human purpose squarely at the center, giving a moral compass to our technological evolution. For teachers, often labelled as resistant to change, this encyclical could be really affirming. It's not asking them to become tech experts overnight. Instead, it's asking them to double down on what they do best, nurture human potential. It's about giving them the time and space to anchor AI to existing successful practices, like fostering critical thinking and then letting their creativity soar. If we approach AI adoption through the lens of magnifica humanitas, we empower teachers as change agents who are safeguarding the very core of what it means to be human in education. So when we consider this encyclical, we're not just talking about a religious document. We're talking about a universal humanistic framework for navigating one of the most significant technological shifts in history. It challenges us in education to evolve, not revolutionize by focusing on what makes us uniquely human. It's a powerful reminder that our job is to prepare students to be the thoughtful, critical, caring humans who wield AI for magnificent humanitus, for the grandeur of humanity, rather than letting it build another tower of Babel. That's all for today. Thanks for listening.