As an AI tech-hub, Washington must lead with conscience

From Seattle to Spokane, the state of Washington has been a leader in cutting-edge technology. Today, technological advances focus on artificial intelligence.

As president of Gonzaga University, I see firsthand how profoundly AI is reshaping higher education. Students are already using generative AI in classrooms. Faculty are rethinking assessment. Entire industries are recalibrating workforce expectations. The disruption is not theoretical. It is here.

The question for universities is no longer whether to engage AI. It is how.

At Gonzaga, a Jesuit, Catholic, humanistic university, we believe the answer begins with a moral commitment: technology must serve human dignity — not displace it.

Jesuit education has always asked a deeper question than “Can we?” It asks, “Should we?” And perhaps more importantly, “Who does this serve?”

Those questions and others require Gonzaga to step into a leadership role as AI develops and becomes an integral part of our world. 

Gonzaga’s Institute for Informatics and Applied Technology serves as a hub for the practical use of data, artificial intelligence and digital tools. Since its launch two years ago, the Institute has integrated artificial intelligence learning outcomes into Gonzaga’s core curriculum, advanced interdisciplinary research on responsible AI, visual cognition and leadership in technology adoption, and convened more than 300 scholars, industry leaders and students for discussions focused on values and responsibility in AI.

We are keenly aware that AI is not simply a new productivity tool. It is a system of encoded human decisions — built from data shaped by history, economics and power. AI reflects the assumptions of its creators and the inequities embedded in its inputs. If left unquestioned, it can scale bias as efficiently as it scales innovation.

That is why Jesuit universities are uniquely positioned for this moment.

Our tradition emphasizes cura personalis — care for the whole person. It calls us to form leaders committed to justice, reflection and service to the common good. In the AI era, that formation must include the ability to interrogate algorithms, challenge embedded bias and design systems aligned with ethical principles.

Washington state understands both the promise and the peril of technological acceleration. Innovation has driven extraordinary economic growth and global influence. It has also intensified debates about workforce displacement, privacy, misinformation and equity.

Universities cannot stand apart from these debates. Nor can we simply mirror the pace of industry. Our role is distinct: to prepare students not only to build AI systems, but to shape them responsibly.

Gonzaga has embedded AI literacy across disciplines so that engineers, nurses, business leaders and humanities scholars alike graduate with both technical fluency and ethical discernment.

But our ambition goes further.

We want our students to influence how AI evolves.

That means equipping them to ask difficult questions about power and access. Who controls data? Who benefits from automation? Who is rendered invisible? It means preparing graduates who can enter technology firms, health systems, classrooms and public agencies ready to advocate for human-centered design.

AI will increasingly shape social systems — from loan approvals to medical diagnostics to hiring decisions. If those systems are built without moral reflection, they risk deepening inequities. If they are guided by humanistic values, they can expand opportunity and improve lives.

A Jesuit university does not fear innovation. But neither does it accept inevitability. We believe human agency matters. We believe ethical reasoning must evolve alongside technical capability. And we believe that conscience belongs at the center of leadership.

Parents and students evaluating universities today understandably want assurance that education will prepare them for an AI-shaped future. It should. But preparation must mean more than mastering tools that may soon be obsolete. It must mean developing judgment, empathy and courage — qualities no algorithm can replicate.

Artificial intelligence will continue to evolve. Markets will shift. Capabilities will expand. What must remain constant is our insistence that innovation align with human dignity and the common good.

Jesuit education has prepared leaders for centuries of transformation — political upheaval, scientific revolution, the industrial change. The AI era is another such inflection point.

The question before us is not whether machines will grow more capable. They will.

The question is whether we will grow more wise.