Priest and bioethicist Fr. Michael Baggot, a prominent Catholic voice on artificial intelligence, urges more faithful to become active developers and ethical contributors in the field in 2026.

Baggot said he's learned from his studies and personal interactions that “there are good, upright people in these major tech companies.” Some are Catholic, while others are sympathetic to the Catholic moral tradition.

“They’re looking for guidance,” said Baggot, an associate professor of bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. “They're running up against deep moral questions and existential issues about the future and the meaning of human work and labour, and the Church has such a rich patrimony of reflection.

Advertisement

“I think it's the responsibility of all Catholics — not just the clergy,” continued Baggot. “I want the Catholic engineers. I want the Catholic computer scientists. I want the Catholic politicians to be shaping and informing these important conversations and these decisions.”

The 40-year-old who spent much of his early life in Virginia strives to empower voices to enter this arena at each of the forums, seminars or conferences he is invited to as a keynote speaker and panellist around the world. One of his appearances in 2025 was the Mission Collaboration Initiative (MCI) Summit hosted by the Archdiocese of Edmonton in May.

His co-presenter at that knowledge-sharing and discernment event was Matthew Harvey Sanders, the Canadian entrepreneur who created the leading Catholic large language model (LLM) Magisterium AI.

Baggot is intimately knowledgeable about Sanders and his team’s efforts to democratize the patrimony of the Catholic Church through this platform, as he sits on the scholarly advisory board of Magisterium AI. He is excited about its potential as an evangelization tool, as believers and the spiritually curious will have the Church’s teachings on the Holy Trinity, abortion or marriage at their fingertips.

On the other hand, Baggot and his colleagues are cognizant that great care must be taken to ensure users don’t end up getting engulfed in this digital world.

Advertisement

“Now that off-ramping process is always going to be hard, but I know at Magisterium AI we're thinking and talking a lot about directing people from the documents into a living embodied community,” said Baggot. “We don't want people to be spending their days on Magisterium AI.”

Another concern about AI gathering steam is that overreliance on this tool will diminish important faculties like critical thinking, problem solving and overall creativity. Multiple attendees at a recent Diocese of Calgary AI symposium expressed worry about the connection that could be lost with Christ if people ask for Magisterium AI or another platform to formulate a prayer instead of a petition to the Lord from their souls.

Baggot noted that “it is certainly a concern” and there must be an effort to “educate people and remind them of the richness of personal prayer and the dignity that all of us have to enter into real communion with our Creator.” His hope is that the wisdom from the Church Fathers and masters of the spiritual life contained in Magisterium AI helps direct people towards a personal dialogue with God.

However, the visiting scholar at the Institute of Human Ecology and the Catholic University of America underscored that being drawn to a spiritually barren path pre-dates the advent of AI. He echoed St. John of the Cross’ warning about how sometimes people end up accumulating a wealth of intellectual knowledge by reading books or texts about spirituality rather than praying and growing in virtue.

“They come to the false impression that because they are very learned and erudite in spiritual matters, thanks to the many books they read, that it actually signifies a depth of spiritual life or of virtue,” said Baggot. “And so there can be a kind of spiritual gluttony where we seek out more and more information rather than actual assimilation and practice of the faith life.”

With more ethical conundrums surrounding the new technological frontier emerging seemingly by the week, or perhaps even daily, Baggot joins Catholics around the world awaiting Pope Leo XIV’s anticipated social teaching encyclical about AI.

There are some general principles Baggot would like to see the Bishop of Rome tackle.

“I would like to see the Pope address this whole realm of artificial intimacy, and also propose clearly and beautifully the richness of divine intimacy — a relationship with God. Also, the deep friendships and deep bonds of love that should really be informing all of our communities.”

Advertisement

Baggot also considers it important for the Pope to implore governments and tech companies to ensure these systems are not exploitative of different vulnerable groups, such as minors, the neurodivergent community or the elderly.

On an anticipative front, Baggot said the pontiff could speak to the promising advances in health care and education that could be spawned by AI.