At Marquette University, we take a human-first approach to generative artificial intelligence, grounded in our Catholic, Jesuit mission. As such, we view AI as more than a tool to increase efficiency: rather, it can provide opportunities to shape how we learn, work, create and relate to one another.
Put simply, how and why we use AI matters.
As a university community, we approach AI with curiosity and discernment, recognizing its potential to expand creativity, strengthen collaboration and accelerate discovery. We likewise remain anchored by what defines a Marquette education: the formation of the whole person, intellectually, ethically and spiritually.
At Marquette, our core work — teaching, research and scholarship — is about more than outcomes. We value the development of critical thinking, ethical judgment, imagination and a sense of purpose. AI can support this work, but it cannot replace the human insight, responsibility and relationships that create meaning.
Shared responsibility is foundational to how we use AI, and this depends on mutual trust, open dialogue and a commitment to care for one another. This includes:
As a Catholic, Jesuit institution, we are also attentive to the implications the technologies we adopt have on the common good. In the spirit of cura personalis and our commitment to care for our common home, we consider the many ways AI can affect human dignity and social justice, access, labor, and the environment.
Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, sets out the Catholic Church’s social teaching for the age of AI, appealing for the safeguarding of humanity, promotion of truth, dignity of work, social justice and peace. The Holy Father’s comments are deeply consistent with Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and our work in responsible AI.
Working together and by grounding our approach to AI in discernment, shared responsibility and our Jesuit values, we can help promote AI use that deepens learning and contributes to a more just and humane world.
