DMU President Warns AI Is Deepening a Mental Health Crisis

Speaking September 5 at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., Fr. Charles Sikorsky, president of Divine Mercy University, warned that artificial intelligence’s growing role in daily life is contributing to a mental health crisis built on identity confusion, isolation, and a loss of meaning, OSV News’ Kimberley Heatherington reported. Drawing on Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Fr. Sikorsky argued that AI often worsens the isolation it appears to solve — describing it as “social media on steroids”.

“At least on social media, if you’re on Facebook, you’re talking to other people… but (AI) is a conversation with a robot.”

In the shadow of a growing sense of loneliness created by nonhuman interactions, Father Charles argued that it is grace and faith that give us a community and an identity.

The event was part of a shrine lecture series unpacking themes from Pope Leo’s encyclical, and comes shortly before Mental Health Sunday on October 11, observed as part of the U.S. bishops’ National Catholic Mental Health Campaign.

Read the full article at OSV News: https://www.osvnews.com/ai-is-generating-a-mental-health-crisis-warns-divine-mercy-university-president/