{"id":142998,"date":"2026-08-17T23:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/142998\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T23:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:47:16","slug":"kansas-city-college-president-meets-pope-talks-ethical-ai-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/142998\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City college president meets Pope, talks ethical AI future"},"content":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – One local university is working to balance the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence with its mission to remain a technological leader in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sandra Cassady, president of Rockhurst University, traveled to Rome this summer alongside more than a dozen presidents of Jesuit institutions from across the United States, Canada, and Belize. The trip featured historic sights and high-level academic meetings. On top of this, Dr. Cassady met with Pope Leo XIV, the first Pope from the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows our cities, he knows our schools, so when I said Rockhurst University in Kansas City, he got excited,\u201d said Dr. Cassady, emphasizing the connection upon meeting him.<\/p>\n

The meeting comes at a critical time for technological ethics. The Pope has previously called for robust global regulation of artificial intelligence to safeguard humanity from its potential extreme impacts.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Could the world\u2019s biggest rugby tournament come to KC? Two pros in the metro think so.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dr.Dr. Sandra Cassady met Pope Leo XIV while at the Vatican over the summer.(Vatican Media)<\/p>\n

Dr. Cassady emphasized that Rockhurst University embraces a deep responsibility to teach AI both proactively and ethically, grounding modern technological training in traditional Jesuit values.<\/p>\n

However, using AI presents inevitable challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage our students to learn content and use AI to find out what they would learn if they ran a question through AI, but then to really lean into the liberal arts skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving,\u201d said Cassady.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.Dr. Cassady prays with students at Rockhurst University.(Rockhurst University)<\/p>\n

A primary challenge is the technology\u2019s inherent unreliability.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all of its 100% accurate, right? And so we need ways to verify the accuracy and the ethical use of it,\u201d said Dr. Cassady.<\/p>\n

Funding the Future: A $1.03 Million Tech Expansion<\/p>\n

To address these challenges and prepare students for an AI-driven workforce, Rockhurst is expanding its academic footprint.<\/p>\n

The university recently secured a $1.031 million community project funding grant, championed by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-5th District).<\/a> The federal funding will directly expand Rockhurst\u2019s technology-focused degree programs, specifically in data analytics and artificial intelligence, allowing the school to teach ethical tech at scale.<\/p>\n

With this new expansion, Dr. Cassady shared a promise for the local community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the city for good,\u201d said Cassady.<\/p>\n

For more information on Rockhurst University\u2019s tech endeavors, visit their website.<\/a><\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Kansas City man killed by falling rock at Glacier National Park<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – One local university is working to balance the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,1189,4919,40581,4914,119,70438,781,70439,25071],"class_list":["post-142998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-at","tag-leo","tag-meets","tag-pope","tag-president","tag-rockhurst","tag-tech","tag-univeresity","tag-vatican"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}