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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Veritas University, Abuja, has become the first university in Africa to sign the Humanitas AI Compact, an initiative promoting the ethical governance and deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in line with the call by Pope Leo XIV for institutions of higher learning to shape the future of AI responsibly.
The landmark signing took place during the university’s 154th Senate session, with the Vice-Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Ichoku, signing on behalf of the institution.
Other organisations that endorsed the compact included the Institute for African American Studies, Abuja, the Commonwealth Forum, London, the Centre for AI, Digital Justice and Economic Rights (CADER), and the African Institute of Public Health, Addis Ababa.
Addressing the Senate, Ichoku described the signing as Veritas University’s institutional response to Magnifica Humanitas, the papal declaration urging universities and other institutions to take responsibility for ensuring artificial intelligence advances human dignity and the common good.
“The Humanitas AI Compact exists because of Magnifica Humanitas. In Magnifica Humanitas, the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, called on universities and institutions of learning by name to take up their responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
“This Compact is our institutional response to that call, beginning from Africa, and extending to all institutions entrusted with the formation, protection, education, healing, governance and advancement of the human person,” he said.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, the Pope’s message is centred on ensuring that AI serves humanity, particularly the poor, the sick, migrants, people displaced by war, women, girls and other vulnerable groups who face exclusion, poverty, conflict and manipulation.
He stressed that the Catholic Church expects institutions not only to study papal teachings but also to translate them into practical action.
“An encyclical is never only a document to be admired. It is a call to be received, embodied, organised and carried into the world.”
He insisted that African universities must begin to give institutional expression to the vision outlined in Magnifica Humanitas, adding that the Humanitas AI Compact was built on seven guiding principles, including human dignity, subsidiarity, the common good, the universal destination of goods, truth and the integral development of the human person.
Participating institutions also pledged seven key commitments, including reviewing academic programmes to prepare students for the AI era, promoting digital literacy, directing AI innovations towards vulnerable populations, advancing justice and peace, strengthening collaboration with families and communities, contributing to AI governance and ethical policymaking, and ensuring the benefits of the digital age are accessible to all rather than a privileged few.
The compact described itself as a cross-sector movement advocating the ethical development and use of AI while rejecting the notion that artificial intelligence possesses genuine creativity or moral discernment. It also cautions against depending solely on algorithmic systems to make decisions that significantly affect human lives.
The organisers said the next phase of the Humanitas AI Compact will begin in the second month following the release of Magnifica Humanitas, with participation to be expanded to educational institutions, healthcare organisations, public agencies and civil society groups across Africa and beyond.
