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Catholic Schools Foundation

Friday, July 24, 2026Culture

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Perhaps AI will have the positive effect of reminding us of the value of people and not reducing humanity "to a predictable algorithm."

Michael
Reardon

''Human first; human last." These were the words shared during a recent conversation with a group of school leaders regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI). As the conversation progressed, the concept of human dignity was raised and the need to not let AI take precedence over this powerful truth: all people by their very nature have dignity, and this must be respected.
Human dignity was raised in the context of AI, and it is a powerful and appropriate consideration. It is easy to view the possibility of an abstract, anonymous worker being replaced by AI, but considering someone you personally know being displaced is far more concerning. These school leaders were reflecting on the possible impact of AI on students and colleagues and expressed concern that people could be replaced as cogs in a machine; simple means to some temporal end. In a vacuum, this is easy to see happening, and it is why it was important to personalize the experience. The idea of debasing the humanity of their colleagues and students to being purely utilitarian and ignoring their inherent dignity and value was met with a determination that this must not happen. AI can be in the middle but must always begin with people and end with people; tools are meaningless without human purpose.
These words began to resonate with me… "human first; human last."

Pope Leo XIV makes this point very thoughtfully in his recent letter "Drawing New Pathways of Hope," referring back to the 1966 Conciliar Declaration "Gravissimum educationis," that "warns against reducing education to functional training or an economic tool: a person is not a "skills profile," cannot be reduced to a predictable algorithm, but "is a face, a story, a vocation."
A person "is a face, a story, a vocation."
It is too easy to reduce conversations and decisions to practical outcomes that ignore people's humanity and innate dignity. Perhaps AI will have the positive effect of reminding us of the value of people and not reducing humanity "to a predictable algorithm."
This conversation was amplified for me when I was speaking to a Catholic Schools Foundation Scholar alumna. This remarkable young woman just finished her master's in public health, is engaged to be married and a productive member of our community. Her story began in a hotel room when she came to the United States after the devastating earthquakes in Haiti back in 2010. Her family was allowed to stay and work thanks to their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Her parents worked multiple jobs to get out of the hotel, provide a home and education for their children, and give them a better life. These are not just cogs in a political conversation. Behind the TPS and immigration debate are real people with real stories. Humans who will be impacted by decisions; hospitals and nursing homes that will be without nurses' aides and environmental and dietary services staff.
I am not sure why it took the debate about AI for me to be reminded of the risk of debasing people to the point of seeing their worth as a means and "skills profile," designed to achieve a practical end. There are real human impacts of all decisions and not just impacts from AI.
In many Catholic Schools as you enter there is a sign that states "Let it be known to all who enter here that Jesus Christ is the reason for this school, the unseen but ever-present teacher in all its classes, the model of its faculty, and the inspiration for its students."
Jesus is the heart of Catholic education and his humanity, passion, and death, remind us of the dignity of every person. Perhaps instead of "Human first; human last," is another way of reminding us "Jesus first."

- Michael B. Reardon is executive director of the Catholic Schools Foundation, www.CSFBoston.org.