Authentically Human

Across Fairfield University, a thoughtful dialogue is taking shape around AI and the ways it is transforming education, work, and what it means to be human.

In the Fairfield Egan simulation lab, the vital signs of an AI-powered manikin “patient” respond in real time to a nursing student’s interventions. Next door in the Bannow Science Center, engineering students decode the logic and data behind an AI decision-making program. Across campus, a humanities seminar debates whether AI can enrich our understanding of what it means to live with purpose.

In each of these settings, artificial intelligence is shaping the way our students think and learn—about their world and about themselves. AI has arrived not just as a technology, but as a shared invitation for the entire Fairfield community—students, faculty, and staff—to reflect, to question, and to imagine the possibilities together.

Preparing students to “meet the world where it is,” especially when that world defies prediction, is a campus-wide endeavor. Three interconnected dialogues are shaping the path forward: how we teach and learn in an AI-driven landscape, how we work and lead alongside intelligent systems, and how we preserve the essence of what it means to be authentically human.

While life in the era of artificial intelligence is evolving faster than any syllabus can capture, Provost Christine Siegel, PhD, holds fast to her belief that Fairfield’s 500-year-old Ignatian pedagogy—which invites students to think critically, reason logically, imagine boldly, and act ethically—offers a steady compass amid the shifting terrain. Addressing the incoming Class of 2029 at Orientation this past June, she said, “I can’t, with confidence, say what the world of work is going to look like in May of 2029, but I can, as chief academic officer, say with confidence that you will be prepared for it.”

Over the past two years, as waves of emerging AI technology have arrived on campus, members of Fairfield’s faculty have greeted the new generative tools with discernment. Eager to learn whether these advancements signal the end of original thinking—or a new beginning for it—professors across the humanities, sciences, and professional schools are experimenting with its uses and inviting students to approach AI through a critical lens: analyze its reasoning, question its assumptions, and discover its potential.

“One of the biggest hurdles students and professors face is AI literacy,” said Provost Siegel. “Do we know what these tools are and what their benefits and limitations are? By intentionally engaging in learning about AI and fostering dialogue in and out of the classroom, we are able to learn from one another about this transformative technology and its possibilities.”

As Fairfield professors explore the place for AI in their classrooms, some are inviting students to critically examine the technology, for example by feeding a writing prompt into AI, critiquing the output, and then rewriting the piece more effectively. Others are encouraging its use to add efficiency or inspire creativity. A Fairfield Dolan student might use AI to simulate a global market scenario, while a philosophy student might use it to assess the logic of an argument.

In his film studies class, Professor Jay Rozgonyi, associate vice provost for pedagogical innovation and effectiveness, recently invited his students to engage in “conversations” with a virtual college student from 1925, the era of silent films. When a student asked, “What’s it like to only watch silent films?” the AI-generated conversation partner responded, “Aren’t all films silent?”—a humbling insight into how we seldom see the meaning of our own moment in time.

In this present, AI-saturated moment, curiosity and conscience—in equal parts—have become the hallmarks of Fairfield’s student-centric approach to understanding the implications of artificial intelligence. “As a Jesuit Catholic university, guiding students to find their voice, develop their whole self, and become a fully flourishing person has always been the most important thing we can teach,” said Provost Siegel. “Our students will leave Fairfield ready to help shape the future of AI. They’ll be the ones asking really intelligent questions, with the recognition that no one person or academic discipline has cornered the market on the answers.”

Fairfield University is using AI in its operations to optimize efficiency and analyze data— improving everything from facilities maintenance to admission forecasting. Data governance—how we use, secure, and store information—remains central to the University’s operations and values. But, while AI-assisted tools have changed how we do things across our campuses, Paul Fama, vice president of Human Resources, is adamant that it hasn’t changed our purpose. “Faculty and staff are challenged to make sure technology serves our humanity, not the other way around,” he said. “Just like any other technology that comes into our University workplace, we encourage employees to experiment with AI tools in a safe, ethical, and transparent way.”

Those same principles extend to preparing graduates for an unpredictable job market. “Organizations are starting to think about a new metric: the human-agent ratio,” explained Fama, citing a Harvard study that evaluated job performance and concluded that “an individual with AI outperforms a team without AI. But when it comes to the highest quality work, a team with AI outperforms everyone.”

“AI is going to be a part of how we work going forward,” Fama concluded, “but it’s not without the need for judgment, expertise, and human intervention. Organizations need to continually find ways to augment productivity, and AI may be part of the answer—but it can’t be the whole answer.”

Whatever vocation a Fairfield graduate chooses, entering the workforce with a mindset of adaptability and an openness to continual learning is critical in this fast-paced environment of evolving technology. “Instead of the traditional view of learning as a pyramid—front-loaded early in life and narrowing toward expertise,” noted Fama, “we now see it as a series of S-curves: you begin knowing little, gain knowledge rapidly, and then, as that knowledge becomes outdated, you start climbing a new curve.”

As far as skills that best serve professionals in an AI-augmented workplace, Fama said that critical thinking is number one. “As more data becomes available from more places, AI is pushing us toward a more interdisciplinary approach—we need a broader lens to analyze information and answer questions in a more complete way, and we need communication skills to help people digest all the information that’s coming at them.”

Ultimately, it’s the human capacities—emotional intelligence, moral discernment, and ethical reasoning—that will always be in demand. “When it comes to educating tomorrow’s leaders, I truly believe that ethics is our sweet spot,” said Fama. “Our students are entering workplaces transformed by AI, but they’ll stand out because they understand that it’s people—not programs— that build trust, inspire teams, and imagine new possibilities.”

At Orientation, first-year students practice the most enduring skill of all—connecting through face-to-face conversation.

Back at Orientation last June, Provost Siegel announced a yearlong programming initiative to the incoming Class of 2029, titled Authentically Human: Who Are We in the Digital Age? To prepare for the campus dialogue, she asked each first-year student to choose one of three “summer reads” – Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. After reading their book choice, students were invited to share their vision of what it means to thrive—not just survive—in an AI-driven future, by uploading a two- to three-minute audio reflection. By Move-In Day in August, a remarkable 770 new voices had joined the University-wide conversation.

Many responses centered on the idea that being human means “living inside something fragile” and having the capacity to “choose meaning,” “have opinions,” “live with purpose,” and “be vulnerable”—things that AI cannot do. And those capacities, students noted, can only be expressed through connections with others.

“I believe the human heart is a combination of how your emotions, personality, memories, your ethics, and your own moral code come together,” said one first-year student. “Humans are so complex,” acknowledged another, “there is no single answer, but love is a vital part of thriving, beyond survival.”

That idea—the distinctly human call to love, to discern, to find meaning—lies at the heart of Jesuit education. Artificial intelligence may excel at processing the what and the how of things, but as Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., executive director and vice provost of Fairfield Bellarmine noted, it cannot answer the why. “That requires a human being who is deeply attentive to reality, deeply reflective, and deeply grateful,” he said. “Someone who can ask: Why does this matter?”

Fr. O’Brien described Jesuit education as “paying attention to reality in all its forms, reflecting on what we notice, and responding with love.” In the end, he said, every Jesuit ministry is about “helping us to love better: to love ourselves, to love others, to love nature, and to love God.”

“Because we are created by God,” he continued, “there is in each of us this unfathomable mystery, which is beautiful to behold and exciting to discover.” Delving into that mystery—of who we are and who others are—is part of the joy and the beauty of human living.

“An authentic human life,” Fr. O’Brien concluded, “is one in which we strive for truth, beauty, and goodness. AI can generate facts, but it cannot grow in wisdom—because wisdom requires reflection, and reflection is how we find meaning.”

To learn more about how Fairfield University is equipping students to thrive in an AI-driven world, please visit fairfield.edu/ai.

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