Builders AI Conference at “The Pope’s University” | Interview with NCS Vatican Correspondent
Builders AI Conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome November 6th, 2025
On November 6th, 2025, Noēsis founder Ron Ivey had the opportunity to attend the Builders AI Forum in Rome.
The Builders AI Forum, hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University at the Collegium Maximum, Rome, aimed to foster a new interdisciplinary community of practice dedicated to supporting the development of AI products that serve the Church's mission.
This gathering brought together companies leading in Catholic AI, venture capital and angel investors, as well as prominent AI thought leaders and researchers to what is known as “the Pope’s University.”
Read Pope Leo’s remarks to the AI Builders Forum here. Watch more videos here.
As part of the Forum, Noēsis CEO Ron Ivey had the opportunity to participate in a collaborative workshop brings together educators, technologists, and leaders to forge a strategic path for Catholic education to become a beacon in the age of AI.
The AI and Education workshop focused on:
Understanding AI's Educational Potential
Aligning AI with Educational Purpose
Defining the Critical Path to Leadership
Designed for Catholic school administrators, teachers, diocesan leaders, EdTech innovators, policymakers, theologians, and researchers passionate about the future of education, this interactive workshop will foster crucial dialogue and strategic planning. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of AI's role, contribute to a framework for principled adoption, and identify actionable steps to empower Catholic education to lead effectively and ethically in the integration of artificial intelligence.
Watch the summary video of the AI and Education workshop from Prof. Brett Robinson at the University of Notre Dame, watch here.
While at the conference, Ron was able to share his insights with the Vatican correspondent of the National Catholic Register about AI’s impact on children and human relationships.
From NCR article: “Ron Ivey, a research fellow at Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program and founder of the Noesis Collaborative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to steering the development and use of AI technology, told the Register that while older users typically turn to chatbots for help with tasks, younger people are more likely to engage with chatbots on a deeper level, asking, “what’s the purpose of my life? How should I think about this particular relational problem?”
“That’s happening across the board,” he said. But when a child turns to a machine for moral insight, it creates a special risk.
“These machines don’t care about the child. They don’t have heart. They don’t have a capacity for that,” Ivey said.
“In the context of social relationships, what does it mean for young people to be spending, in some cases with these chatbots, two hours a day interacting?” Ivey asked. “How does that impact the moral development, the emotional development, social development of that child or teen? Are we really thinking about that before we’re allowing kids to interact with it?”
