Bacolod City, Philippines — Artificial intelligence can generate images, write lessons, and even summarize reports in seconds — but true education, said Dr. Mardy Dizon-Verano, remains a deeply human act that begins with love and ends in transformation.
Addressing educators from Augustinian schools across Negros Occidental at the La Consolacion College Bacolod Auditorium on Oct. 20, Dr. Verano delivered an energetic and reflective talk titled “Forward in Faith and Innovation: Rooting Augustinian Education in the AI Era.” The session formed part of the Asia-Pacific Augustinian Conference (APAC) Commission on Education’s seminar series on Augustinian Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
An educator, author, and speaker with over three decades of experience, Verano combined humor, demonstration, and theological reflection to show how teachers can meaningfully integrate AI tools without losing the heart of their vocation. “Teaching,” she reminded the audience, “is not about the teacher teaching — it is about the student learning. We teach persons before lessons.”
AI as Assistant, Not Authority
Through live demonstrations, Verano showed how AI can now analyze data, draft memos, and even process qualitative feedback in seconds. “I used to spend an hour extracting themes from survey results,” she said. “Now I can do it in fifteen minutes — and still have time to pray, rest, or talk to my students.”
AI, she explained, can perform many of the routine tasks that occupy teachers’ time — writing test items, summarizing reports, generating visual materials, or answering frequently asked questions. But she cautioned: “Use AI as an able assistant, not as the teacher. It can help us focus on what truly matters — the learner.”
Verano described AI as a “house helper” that will only perform well if given clear and specific instructions. “Garbage in, garbage out,” she said, reminding participants that the quality of the output depends on the human input. “We must learn how to communicate with AI as clearly as we teach our students.”
From Data to Discernment
Verano also emphasized that data-driven decision-making — powered by AI analytics — must serve mission, not merely management. “Schools have so much data,” she said, “but we seldom use it to make strategic, technical, or operational decisions.”
She urged school leaders to let AI assist in synthesizing vast information — from student performance to teacher evaluation — but always with human interpretation and moral judgment. “We can measure almost anything,” she said, quoting management thinker Peter Drucker, “but not everything measurable is meaningful.”
Faith, Compassion, and Critical Thinking
Returning to the Augustinian ideal of interior reflection, Verano warned that AI’s convenience can dull critical thinking and weaken human relationships. “AI can be confidently mistaken,” she said. “It can sound right, but be wrong — even fabricate references.” Teachers, she said, must guide students to verify, think critically, and reflect deeply.
She called this process “creating, verifying, and internalizing” — a balance between innovation and discernment. “Artificial intelligence can generate answers,” she said, “but it cannot generate understanding, compassion, or faith.”
Verano linked this to Augustine’s teaching that there are two teachers: the external and the inner one. “We are external teachers,” she told the educators. “But true learning happens when the student allows the inner teacher — God — to speak within.”
The Human Face of Learning
Speaking from her experience in early childhood education, Verano illustrated how excessive screen exposure has affected children’s attention and empathy. “A baby learns by looking at the face of the mother,” she said. “AI has no face. It cannot smile, or frown, or love.”
She lamented that many children today encounter their first “teacher” as a tablet, not a human being. “We must bring back the joy of human presence in learning,” she said. “Show them faces, not just screens.”
Bias, Ethics, and the Call to Justice
Echoing concerns raised by Fr. Gary McCloskey in the earlier session, Verano also pointed out how AI can replicate human prejudice. “AI cannot always distinguish dark skin tones, or gender differences,” she noted. “Because its data was trained mostly on certain populations, its outputs may reflect social bias.”
She urged schools to discuss these ethical implications with students, integrating Catholic social teaching on human dignity and justice into digital literacy. “We must help our learners discern truth from falsehood,” she said. “AI gives information, but truth requires discernment.”
An Augustinian Response
Throughout her talk, Verano returned to the Augustinian values of truth, community, and love — veritas, unitas, caritas — as a compass for navigating the AI age. “Innovation must be rooted in compassion,” she said. “Progress without love leads to isolation. Faith without reflection leads to blindness. But when faith and innovation meet, learning becomes transformation.”
Ending her session with laughter and applause, Verano reminded her fellow educators: “AI may assist us, but it will never replace us. Only teachers can see the whole person. Only love can truly teach.”
Photography: Miguel Soberano