The AI, known as the Catholic CoPilot, is already in use across 146 schools and saves teachers up to 10 hours a week by automating lesson planning, marking and administrative tasks.

The chatbot was built using Microsoft technology and is grounded in Catholic theology. Leigh Williams, BCE Information and Technology Executive, said it is tailored to align with Catholic teaching and the curriculum.

"It will generate an answer based only on the things that you pointed it to, so we pointed it to our own curriculum, our own Catholic theology and Catholic teaching principles" Williams explained.

Unlike other generative AI tools, Catholic CoPilot avoids general internet sources, ensuring responses are specific and aligned with Catholic values.

BCE is also the first K-12 education system to sign the Vatican's Rome Call on AI Ethics, which promotes ethical AI usage in line with human dignity and Catholic teachings.

Faith-Integrated Curriculum

Williams emphasised that the chatbot doesn't promote a single religious perspective but integrates Catholic viewpoints within broader educational standards. For instance, history lessons explore events through a Catholic lens while legal studies incorporate Catholic perspectives on justice.

Ms Williams said teachers using the chatbot saved nearly 2 hours each day in administrative tasks and lesson planning. "It can be used for everything from planning their lessons, writing and curriculum content'' she said.

Catholic CoPilot could be used to develop assignment marking rubrics and give students feedback. Teachers retain control, with all AI-generated content reviewed before use. "Nothing goes back to the student without the teacher actually reviewing it first'' Willams said.

Ms Williams said the AI chatbot might also be used to write end-of-year report cards.

"If you tell it to give you a summary of how the student has performed, in less than a paragraph, it will be able to do that. Copilot is unbiased in the sense it's looking only at that student's data … so it's actually based on real evidence.''

Sources

The Australian

Microsoft

CathNews New Zealand

Using advanced AI and photogrammetry, this project will provide millions of people throughout the world a virtual gateway to one of Catholicism's holiest sites. The launch coincides with preparations for the 2025 Holy Year Jubilee.

The initiative, known as "Petros Eni" (Greek for "Peter is here"), employs Microsoft's cutting-edge AI and Iconem's photogrammetry to produce a hyper-detailed, 3D digital "twin" of St Peter's Basilica.

Visitors to Rome will experience the exhibit in person, while an online version will make the basilica accessible to those who cannot travel. Additionally, schools worldwide will have access via Minecraft Education, the popular video game platform.

400,000 high-resolution images

Microsoft's president Brad Smith described the project as "the oldest organisation in the world collaborating with the newest technology".

At a press event, Smith highlighted the extraordinary scale of the effort. For three weeks, drones coordinated by AI from Iconem, a French startup, captured over 400,000 high-resolution images of the basilica's intricate architecture, art and structure. Laser scanning allowed precise location mapping and AI algorithms processed the data to create the replica, ensuring a model accurate to one millimetre.

Smith emphasised that Microsoft provided its services free-of-charge, underscoring the collaboration's significance.

The Fabric of St Peter, the Vatican institution overseeing the basilica's preservation, plans to use the digital data to aid future restorations, noting its value in preserving the site for generations.

According to Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St Peter's Basilica, the digital twin project will allow visitors "to see this basilica as no generation has seen it before" - from missing mosaic tiles to previously hidden architectural details.

Pope Francis affirmed the project's spiritual significance, seeing St Peter's Basilica as "a place where everyone, whether in search of faith or in admiration of art, feels welcome".

Sources

Religion News Service

Technical Master

Father Paolo Benanti, a member of the United Nations' advisory body on AI and adviser to Pope Francis on ethics and technology, visited the Microsoft campus on July 23 to speak with Brad Smith, the tech giant's president.

Seattle University President Eduardo Peñalver introduced the "unlikely pair," who met five years ago at the Vatican while working on developing the "Rome Call for AI Ethics," a document and commitment by entities around the world to embrace key principles in shaping technology.

Read More

Its greenhouse gas emissions were actually around 30 per cent higher in the fiscal year 2023, showing how hard it could be for the company to meet climate goals as it simultaneously races to be a leader in AI.

Training and running AI models is an increasingly energy-hungry endeavour, and the impact that's having on the climate is just starting to come into view.

Microsoft's latest sustainability report is a good case study in the conundrum facing big tech companies that made many climate pledges in recent years but could pollute more as they focus on AI.

Read More

He also discussed ways to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor nations. Read more

SPIEGEL: Mrs. Gates, how does it feel to be so rich that you can use your money to influence the lives of millions of people?

Gates: Our money looks huge, but it's actually not when you look at the range of projects that we're going after. Bill and I believe philanthropy can only be effective if it starts things and proves whether they actually work or not. That's the place that governments often don't want to, or can't, work. We might take on six candidates for developing a malaria vaccine knowing that five will fall away. But we'll get one hit. And to meet a mom and know that her baby is alive and that we had something to do with it, that feels great.

SPIEGEL: Why didn't you just entrust your fortune to an institution like the media mogul Ted Turner, who donated a billion dollars to the United Nations?

Gates: Bill and I felt like we had something to add from the private sector. He started Microsoft; I worked there for nine years. We felt the private sector has a view of things that is beneficial to this work. You bring a kind of thinking, an entrepreneurial thinking. And then, if it works, governments can scale it up.

SPIEGEL: Are you not challenging the UN's leadership role when it comes to development aid?

Gates: Every single thing we do has to be done with governments. Look, we could go out and spend the entire resource in two years. Gone, done. But would we have a catalytic effect? Would we have left something behind? Would we have saved as many maternal lives or childhood lives? The answer would be no. Continue reading

• Source: Spiegel Online
• Image: GirltalkHQ

The Social Network for Catholic Education will give students in Catholic schools in 100 countries access to Office 365 for Education, reports Money Control.

Students will be able to use teleconferencing and other tools.

"We are entering a new era in global Catholic education. We will offer the most advanced technology, knowledge and skills to our schools," Father Angel Astorgano, general secretary of the Catholic International Education Office, said.

Educated in a Catholic school in New York's Bronx, Anthony Salcito, vice-president of worldwide education at Microsoft, said "Catholic schools around the world", he said, often do well "with less funding than other schools".

The rollout will take place over the next three years, and it is the intention of the concordat to extend the programme to the entire Catholic school network.

The software package will be hosted online: schools will require a broadband internet connection to access it. Mr Salcito described it as "perfect for schools". "It's a rich set of tools without needing to put in infrastructure."

Sources

• Financial Times
• Image: Microsoft