The Builders AI Forum (BAIF) met at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on 5–6 November 2026. According to EWTN News, this year’s forum was centred on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and brought together Catholic AI companies, investors, researchers and Church leaders.
In his opening remarks, Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ, a founder of the Vatican’s inter-dicastery commission on artificial intelligence, warned that “we are all impacted by AI but nobody’s listening” to one another. Forum CEO Vincent Higgins said the event covered four areas: AI in evangelisation, healthcare, education, and the responsible building and scaling of AI with safeguards.
Child safety was a strong theme. Megan Garcia, whose son died by suicide after forming an attachment to a chatbot, called for accountability, third-party testing before release, and limits on the use of children’s data. Montse Alvarado reminded participants that “AI is not a person, AI is a tool,” while Bishop Stephen Wang spoke about AI and priestly formation.
Note from Evangelii Network Japan: This comment is our own and not part of the EWTN News report or a statement by the Builders AI Forum. The concerns raised at the forum about human oversight and accountability are explored further in our paper on Catholic AI and human dignity.
