"Rethinking school in the age of artificial intelligence" - A lecture by the French Philosopher Gabrielle Halpern for the International Office of Catholic Education

The French Philosopher Gabrielle Halpern has led a research work to explore artificial intelligence and its implications for society. She has been invited by the International office of Catholic Education to give a lecture in order to explore the educational, ethical and spiritual challenges raised by these new technologies. This special webinar was entitled "What if we rethought school in the age of artificial intelligence?". More than 200 participants gathered online and in person to hear this committed figure of contemporary thought, author of several books such as "Tous centaures ! Éloge de l’hybridation" (All Centaurs! In Praise of Hybridisation), "Penser l’hospitalité" (Thinking Hospitality), and "Créer des ponts entre les mondes" (Building Bridges Between Worlds).

Gabrielle Halpern offered us a powerful philosophical and educational reading of our times: an era marked by acceleration, fragmentation and uncertainty. She offered a different perspective on innovation, calling on educators not to pit the old against the new, but to build a ‘hybrid’ school that combines heritage and creativity, slowness and boldness, human presence and technological discernment.

Rather than seeing artificial intelligence as a risk of dehumanisation, Gabrielle Halpern invites us to consider it as an opportunity: an opportunity to rediscover the meaning of educational time. She asks: what do we do with the time we save thanks to technology? Do we leave room for the unexpected, for trust, for relationships? Or do we reproduce an algorithmic logic of efficiency? This approach is fully in line with the Global Compact on Education initiated by Pope Francis, which calls on us to put people back at the centre, to cultivate an integral ecology and to reject standardisation. Artificial intelligence is not an enemy; it is becoming a revelation: of how we teach, listen and love.

"If a generative artificial intelligence tool such as Chat GPT, Copilot, Le Chat or DeepSeek has more empathy than doctors, more patience than teachers, more imagination than lawyers, more kindness than our neighbors, more tolerance than our friends, more listening skills than our parents, shouldn't that shake us up, by relearning patience, empathy, listening, tolerance, kindness and imagination? The real question we must ask ourselves when faced with artificial intelligence is the following: isn't it we, human beings, who have abandoned the terrain of humanism and isn't it hypocritical to now cry scandal about the great replacement of human beings by technologies? Lacking the courage to assume our humanity, isn't it too easy to delegate it to artificial intelligence?", Gabrielle Halpern

"Generative artificial intelligence shines a spotlight on our failures, our contradictions, our absurdities. By playing the role of our "bad conscience," it radically challenges us. By giving us a lesson in humility, but also in tolerance, listening, attention, kindness, patience, artificial intelligence will perhaps help us, if we have the courage, to rediscover and embrace our humanity," Gabrielle Halpern

To learn some more: https://oiecinternational.com/blog/2025/05/11/conference-webinar-gabrielle-halpern/

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