Date: April 8, 2026
Time: 8:30-12:30 P.M.
Location: Coskrey Auditorium in Memorial Hall
Light refreshments will be provided.
Sponsored jointly by Mississippi State University and the Pontificia University Antonianum, “The New Poverty: Complexity, Ethics and Artificial Intelligence" considers artificial intelligence from an ethical perspective. The conference title evokes phrases from the document Antiqua et Nova: Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence, published in 2025 by two departments of the Roman Curia. The document speaks from the intellectual context of the integral ecology perspective and contemplates the possibility that, along with great positive potential, “AI may present challenges to the common good just as differential material wealth affects access to political and social influence the document warns that AI could be used to perpetuate marginalization and discrimination create new forms of poverty widen the ‘digital divide’ and worsen existing social inequalities.” Further, the great complexity of current AI Demands increasingly large data sets, computational power, and storage that, in turn, relies on resources such as energy, land, and water. As an allocation of resources, this raises questions of sustainability. Conference speakers will engage ethical aspects of AI from a variety of perspectives responsive to the theme.
Conference Schedule
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8:30 – 9:00 |
Registration and Refreshments
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9:00 |
Welcome and Introductions Dan Reynolds Introduction to the Theme Jonathan Barlow and Mimmo Parisi |
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9:15-9:45 |
Keynote: Caring for our common home. Laudato Si' as a tool for today and tomorrow.
Michael Perry is Minister General Emeritus, Order of Friars Minor and served as the Grand Chancellor of the Pontificia Università Antonianum (2013-2021). |
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9:45-10:10 |
The Legal Status of AI Agents Yonathan Arbel
Yonathan Arbel is William Alfred Rose Professor of Law and Director of the AI Legal Studies Initiative at the University of Alabama. |
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10:10-10:35 |
Some Hypotheses for an Anthropology in Dialogue with AI
Andrea Bizzozero
Andrea Bizzozero, O.F.M., is a professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontifical University Antonianum and a member of the Order of Friars Minor. |
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10:35-10:55 |
Break
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10:55-11:20 |
The Idea of a University in Light of AI Christopher Snyder
Christopher Snyder is William L. Giles Distinguished Professor, Professor of History, and Director of British Studies at Mississippi State University. |
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11:20-11:45 |
Epistemic Poverty: Truth, Deepfakes, and the Collapse of Shared Reality Joe Stradinger
Joe Stradinger is CEO and Founder of Edge Theory, an AI-native narrative intelligence company that accelerates and optimizes decision-making in the information environment. |
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11:45-12:30 |
Roundtable Discussion: All Panelists, Moderator
Panelists will answer questions prepared by the moderator or submitted by the audience. |