Bridging AI Education and Catholic Social Teachings: Lessons from Sam Altman’s Paradigmatic Perspectives

Abstract

This paper examined Sam Altman’s discourse on AI through the lens of epistemological pluralism (positivist, post-positivist, interpretivist, constructivist, and pragmatic) and assesses its implications for Catholic higher education guided by Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Altman’s paradigm pluralism is evident in his TEDx talk: his positivist stance emphasizes measurable progress and capability growth, while his post-positivist approach acknowledges high uncertainty and the provisional nature of knowledge, promoting caution and ethical reflection. His interpretivist stance values human relationality and meaning ("you will still really care about when you’re talking to a human"), and his constructivist view stresses that humans must set the rules for AI governance. Finally, his pragmatism focuses on iterative learning, action, and practical application. CST principles—human dignity, the common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity —align strongly with Altman's post-positivist, interpretivist, and constructivist orientations, affirming moral agency and human-centered design. However, pure positivism risks reducing human worth to performance metrics, contradicting CST's view of intrinsic human dignity. Unconstrained pragmatism risks prioritizing efficiency over ethical boundaries, conflicting with the preferential option for the poor. The study proposed practicable recommendations for Catholic higher education, including integrating technical skills with ethical oversight (positivist constraint), cultivating critical reflection (post-positivist), centering curricula on human experience (interpretivist), promoting participatory governance (constructivist), and ensuring practical AI applications are morally constrained (pragmatic). This synthesis aims to cultivate graduates who are technically competent, ethically informed, and socially responsible.