As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the way we consume and create media, the “media nuns” are on a mission to ensure humanity stays mindful in the digital age and remembers that “human beings create, machines generate.” AI “generates a lot of questions, it generates a lot of concerns, but it also generates a lot of excitement,” Sister Nancy Usselmann, FSP, director for the Daughters of St. Paul’s Pauline Media Studies, told CNA. The Daughters of St. Paul are known as the “media nuns” for their media-centered mission and outreach. They study new trends, issues, and advances in media to look at what the changes mean for people including parents, teenagers, and young adults. As director of Pauline Media Studies, Usselmann leads the sisters’ efforts to “develop media mindfulness catechesis for a lived discipleship” and help people find ways to integrate their faith with daily media use. The sisters seek to accomplish this mission through writing, hosting workshops, and speaking across the country. Usselmann is a theologian, writer, international speaker, and film reviewer, among other things. With a doctorate in ministry from The Catholic University of America and certificates in catechetics and media literacy education, Usselmann is now also studying and teaching about AI, including what the Church teaches about it and how Catholics can “live within this digital world, while also living our faith.” “I know everybody gets excited about new tools and hopping on the bandwagon of trying out the newest, latest, and greatest, but so much of it needs reflection,” Usselmann said. “Taking what the Church says about [AI], with its document Antiqua et Nova … we need to take a step back in this rapid change, where every single day there is a new AI app coming.” Usselmann highlighted that it’s not necessarily a matter of educating on whether AI is good or bad but teaching people to “understand what it is.” AI is “machine learning that’s trained to be able to mimic some aspects of human intelligence.” bit.ly/45753qd