Catholic Studies Speaker Series

Lecture Date

January 27, 2026, 7:00 pm

Event Location

Wolff Auditorium, Jepson Center
702 E Desmet Av Ave
Spokane, WA 99202

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The 2026 Catholic Studies
Speaker Series

Foundations of AI Ethics? with Taylor Black, Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems at Microsoft

Do you use AI regularly? Are you fascinated with AI? Does AI concern you? How do you think about your interactions with AI? What philosophical and ethical questions does AI raise? What resources can the Catholic intellectual tradition offer as we navigate this new era? Taylor Black argues, “As AI systems quietly permeate daily life—from the algorithms curating our news feeds to the automation guiding hiring decisions and policing—each promises efficiency and insight, but each also carries the risk of unintended consequences. How do we respond to such challenges? How can we ensure these powerful technologies serve justice and the common good, rather than undermine them? We need more than technical fixes; we need wisdom and moral discernment.”

Taylor Black, a Gonzaga alumnus, is director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, where he explores the frontiers of innovation and corporate entrepreneurship. He is the founding director of a new AI and ethics institute at the Catholic University of America. Taylor is also a deacon candidate in the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix.

Sponsored by the Catholic Studies Program.

Questions? Contact Joe Mudd, Catholic Studies program director at mudd@gonzaga.edu, x6799.

The Catholic Studies Speaker Series

The Catholic Studies Speaker Series hosts lectures and presentations that explore aspects of the Catholic intellectual tradition. Included in the series is the annual “Bernard J. Tyrrell, S.J. Lecture in Philosophy of God and Theology.” Past speakers include: 

• Ligita Ryliškytė, SJE, “Lost in Communication: The Aporia of Kenosis”
• Jeremy Wilkins, Professor of Theology, Boston College and author of Before Truth: Lonergan, Aquinas and the Problem of Wisdom
• Anne E. Carpenter, Associate Professor of Theology, Saint Mary’s University and author of Theo-Poetics: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Risk of Art and Being
• Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC, Ph.D., director of the Mother Teresa Center and editor of Mother Teresa: “Come Be My Light” The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta
• James L. Marsh, Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University and author of Lonergan in the World: Self-Appropriation, Otherness, and Justice
• Randall S. Rosenberg, Associate Professor of Theology, Saint Louis University and author of The Givenness of Desire: Concrete Subjectivity and the Natural Desire to See God
• Anna Halpine, Founder of World Youth Alliance

Learn more about the Catholic Studies Program.