DELTA Network: Faith-Based Ethical Formation for a World of Powerful AI

DELTA Network: Faith-Based Ethical Formation for a World of Powerful AI is sponsored by Lilly Endowment Inc. (via University of Notre Dame). This grant supports the development of a faith-based ethical framework for AI, designed to be accessible to people of all faith perspectives.

DELTA: Human Formation in the Age of AI DELTA: Human Formation in the Age of AI As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, Christian institutions must look beyond an “ethical floor” of safety, privacy, and transparency. DELTA proposes a deeper, faith-informed approach rooted in enduring Christian values: D ignity, E mbodiment, L ove, T ranscendence, and A gency.

We need, as Pope Francis put it, a growth in human responsibility, values, and conscience that is proportionate to the advances posed by technology.

The Institute for Ethics and the Common Good is leading the development of the DELTA network, which will provide practical resources for scholars, religious leaders, tech leaders, teachers, journalists, young people, and the broader public to help navigate challenges posed by rapidly developing AI. This work is made possible with the generous support of a $50. 8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. , awarded in December 2025.

Join the conversation as we cast a vision of what a flourishing life looks like in a world saturated with technology. Join the DELTA mailing list What is the DELTA framework? Watch the introduction of DELTA, a faith-informed approach to conversations about AI that is rooted in the Christian values of dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence, and agency.

Every human being possesses inherent worth—not because of productivity, intelligence, or economic value, but because they are made in the image of God. As Pope Leo XIV reminds us, “The person is not a system of algorithms. ” In an age of comparison to machines, we must reaffirm that human dignity is non-negotiable.

This includes how we design and regulate AI in ways that honor the dignity of workers, learners, patients, and users. We are embodied, relational, and mortal beings—our lives unfold in space, time, and community. Christian ethics centers the Incarnation: God takes on the vulnerability of human flesh.

While AI can extend capabilities, it must not obscure the sacredness of human presence or diminish authentic experience. Policies must guide appropriate use of AI in healthcare, education, and other areas where embodied life matters most. Not everything of value can be created, optimized, or sold.

Wonder, beauty, truth, and gratitude draw us beyond ourselves to rejoice in the gifts that God gives us. As AI unlocks new forms of creativity, Christians must resist the temptation to confuse innovation with ultimate meaning. We must nurture practices—like worship, contemplation, and awe—that root us in something higher than the digital.

To flourish, humans need to pay attention and exercise freedom and moral responsibility. The Christian tradition teaches that agency is not just task completion, but the capacity to choose truth and good. As AI systems suggest, filter, and even act for us, it is vital to guard the kinds of decisions only human consciences should make.

Discernment and virtue must be taught alongside technological fluency. From Meghan Sullivan: "When Pope Leo XIV took office last year, he indicated that he would devote substantial attention to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

In this regard, his choice of a papal name was no accident: he specifically referenced Pope Leo XIII, who in 1891 wrote an encyclical, Rerum novarum , that offered thoughts on how to rein in the most dehumanizing aspects of the Industrial Revolution. With Magnifica humanitas, Leo has delivered on that promise and then some. The hard work now begins to ensure that his teaching reaches its intended audience."

What does A 2,000-year-old world religion have to say about powerful AI? As it turns out, a lot – more than 42,000 words, give or take, depending on the language in which you are reading the encyclical. .

. Meghan Sullivan is the director of the Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good . To Understand Pope Leo’s Efforts on A.

I. , Look at the Man Shaking His Hand The University of Notre Dame received a $50 million grant from the Lilly Endowment in December to develop faith-based ethical frameworks for A. I.

through its Institute for Ethics and the Common Good . Pope Leo's first encyclical will address AI and 'magnificent humanity' Pope Leo plans to release an encyclical on "safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence." NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to University of Notre Dame professor Meghan Sullivan .

. . We will be presenting on DELTA at The New York Times' Hard Fork Live event in San Francisco.

The DELTA team joined the Understory Festival in Washington D. C. on May 28-30, and sponsored a Nave Nook experience and a breakout session during the event.

2025 Summit on AI Faith and Human Flourishing Two hundred invited leaders from the tech industry, faith communities, academia, media, and government gathered for the first annual Summit for AI, Faith, and Human Flourishing.

The summit was created to begin to develop a collective response to the opportunities and challenges presented by these new technologies, ensuring that Christians have a “voice at the table” during this time of rapid social transformation.

Read about last year's summit Rapid Response Grant Program Regional Hubs & Communities of Practice We are establishing regional hubs in the Bay Area and Washington, DC, to anchor our network in some of the primary pulse points of AI development and policy.

These locations will serve as vital meeting grounds for our core communities of practice in education, pastoral ministry, and public engagement to come together, break bread, workshop ideas, and learn from one another how best to translate the ethical insights of the DELTA framework into formative action in our daily lives and local communities.

We invite our community to move from the classroom and the parish into the public square and to ensure that practitioner wisdom is represented wherever the future of AI is being built, debated, and regulated. Navigating the great AI shift — with the oldest and best technology we have. “The person is not a system of algorithms.

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