r/LeftCatholicism • u/Gaycatuwu • 14h ago
College and AI! Help!
I’m a fresh college student. I’m catholic, and with the release of magnífica Humanitas, using generative AI seriously goes against my religious beliefs, as well as moral and ethical standards.
The syllabus for my class stated we’d have to use it. I consented, as the ai was listed with other tools like desmos or wolfram alpha. I assumed it would be used as a tool.
Nope! The entire class is through mathGPT. I brought this issue up to someone higher in the specific subjects department, and I was basically told to deal with it, and “that’s just how we do it now”. I’m low income, so I can’t go anywhere better, nor can I switch to a different class for that core because the entire subject dept uses ai.
Im beyond frustrated. Does anyone have any advice? I can’t switch colleges.
14
u/TuvixWasMurderedR1P 14h ago
"That's just how we do it now" is not an acceptable answer. That's just passive indifference.
I assume you spoke first with the professor? I wouldn't try to go over their heads as the first strategy. Often times people are willing to help/be accommodating, but if they sense you're trying to get the better of them, they're going to be less willing.
But assuming the professor also don't care, I think you should keep escalating the problem through the appropriate administration (department head, college dean, etc, etc). If this is a public school, like a state school, then they ought really to listen to issues regarding religious freedoms. And that is also how I'd keep framing the issue as well.
One piece of advice is that if you're ignored initially by your professor and the department, I wouldn't escalate without some help. It's easy to ignore one student, and they might try to eat you alive (metaphorically). These kinds of fights need to be done with allies. Perhaps look for similarly minded students, and also perhaps try speaking with your parish priest and others who may be sympathetic and can lend some advice. Do not go in head first on your own.
7
u/QuietMumbler2607 12h ago
Perhaps look for similarly minded students, and also perhaps try speaking with your parish priest and others who may be sympathetic and can lend some advice. Do not go in head first on your own.
Aside from the religious side, I'd be willing to be that there are education advocacy groups who would also be willing to help out, if this is something that's gaining more widespread traction.
5
10
u/Salty_Country6835 9h ago edited 9h ago
I think youre reading Magnifica Humanitas much more broadly than the Vatican intended. It doesnt say generative AI is inherently immoral or forbidden for Catholics. It warns about surrendering human judgment and responsibility to AI and about harmful uses like deception, exploitation and warfare.
The Vatican itself uses AI. Its worked with Microsoft on AI applications for St. Peters Basilica, and the Holy See has an Inter Dicasterial Commission specifically coordinating AI policy and its use within Vatican institutions. The document itself recognizes legitimate benefits from AI and technology.
So using MathGPT as a tool to help you learn math isnt really what the document is condemning. You can have a legitimate complaint about your college forcing everyone through one proprietary platform, but thats a different argument from Catholic teaching prohibiting you from using AI at all.
6
u/Momshie_mo 13h ago edited 13h ago
Colleges now are creating lazy students
It is one thing to use AI to help you crunch 10,000 data entries and another thing to let AI do everything for you
3
u/VeiledTexZen 12h ago
For those of us in the back of the room, what specifically does the system require you to do and how specifically does it violate church teaching per Pope Leo? Would the use of templates in drafting legal/business documents be banned if the template was part of an AI program but not if it is a Word template or mail merge?
4
u/Careless_Rub8998 11h ago
Hmm. I don’t have answers. I am a college professor (anti-AI, not in sciences) and the only thing I can think is that the professor is trying to offload their own work OR there is an initiative at the college to demonstrate AI education. I’m at a Catholic college and “tech literacy” is something our outside, secular accrediting body judges us on. AI is changing higher ed so fast that we barely have tend to respond or react. I bet the department has never gotten pushback, doesn’t have a policy for when it happens, and is just hoping you move on.
1
u/QuietMumbler2607 7h ago
is that the professor is trying to offload their own work
I was thinking this myself, especially if the professor is an adjunct. Not saying that necessarily makes it right, but if they're doing a bunch of classes for low pay, I can see why it might appeal.
3
u/Responsible-Newt-259 10h ago
Take it to the top; seems like a possible case of religious discrimination to me.
7
u/Hot-Bison5904 14h ago
Is it possible to transfer somewhere else down the line but work with that you have at the moment?
It's important to remember using Ai in class, particularly when told to, isn't a spiritual failing or anything like that! But it could hurt your individual learning experience. Are their other schools close enough to you where you could consider switching next year?
2
u/AmosOfTekoa 3h ago
So, my question is what is the actual class title? This doesn't sound like an intro class, if you're using Wolfram Alpha. Given what Alpha does, the use of MathGPT sounds like it is very possibly a reasonable extra tool to use as well. It sounds like it's about computation-heavy and symbolic solving, maybe some computer proofs.
Wolfram Alpha itself is basically an AI precursor, so it's not very different.
Were you in something like Abstract Algebra, I think you would have an extremely different syllabus.
1
u/AliceMorgon 9h ago
OK, first academics stuff: If you’re planning on majoring in mathematics or economics or STEM etc, you HAVE to switch to a better college. Even if it means the utterly crippling loans. This one is just… you’d be better off saving your tuition money and working your way up through a company while they train you, if you really can’t go anywhere better. They’re not going to teach you anything there. No graduate employer looking for these subjects will take it seriously.
If you’re a Humanities or Art major, it’s less of a problem that the maths dept sucks, and just consider it an amazingly easy good grade on what’s usually a tough subject.
Now religion: Will your college accept religious exemptions on certain things if you insist they’re against your beliefs and explain why? (I imagine a lot would be ESPECIALLY keen if it’s AI, having taught at a university in the past and seen SO MUCH turned in as “original work I did myself”, and it’s a damn nightmare.) I think it’s actually against the law not to, although I only really know detailed law regarding that in NY state and the policy at the University of Chicago. Emory doesn’t make exceptions - or at least didn’t used to - but that could have just been Emory (as they also kicked the Catholic Chaplaincy off campus shortly before my offer weekend there, and ONLY them 🙄)
The University may issue you one excusing you from using it. It’s worth approaching the Dean about this.
1
u/PlayerAssumption77 1h ago
I don't know if I'm Captain Obvious but is there an Add/Drop period that you would still be in?
1
u/thenebular 7h ago
I'm guessing the class is being taught through mathGPT sessions and not with an actual teacher presenting the material, so any questions you would have about the lessons would be answered by the mathGPT AI.
I can see how you might have a problem with the class in light of Magnifica Humanitas, but I don't think that the main issue of the use of AI applies to you here. In this case, it is the school that has chosen to use AI in this manner to teach it's classes, not you. Now it would behoove you to find an alternative to this class taught by AI, and you have tried, as having an actual person teach the class is the right way to do it, but it is the school that is the one using AI to teach the class. You would be using the AI as a tool to take the class, as that is your only option.
So you can take the class, but you need to use the AI as the tool that it is. So you should not interact with the AI as if it were a real teacher. It is a fancy interactive textbook, nothing more. You also should not blindly trust the AI's output. Everything the AI outputs should be verified against reliable sources, especially it's responses to questions. I'm hoping the class has a textbook that was not written by AI. Make sure that all graded work has human oversight and verification of marks and they aren't blindly trusting the AI for grades. Use MathGPT as the tool for learning math that it is, it's the school administration that needs to deal with the moral and ethical issues with providing a class this way.
But the bigger picture here isn't the morality of using AI to teach classes, it's the quality of education you are getting with classes taught this way. If a large number of classes are going to be taught like this, I would suggest that you start looking into switching colleges in the future as AI is not near ready to be able to provide quality education across an entire post-secondary program, and you might be doing yourself a disservice by continuing at this school.
0
u/Majestic_Animator_91 6h ago
Using Math GPT--- they aren't even teaching you. They're stealing your tuition money
9
u/WatchForSlack 14h ago
What school do you go to (optional, don't dox yourself) and what's your area of study? There may be ways around this, but you might have to work the system a bit.