Monastic Communities of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Begin Practical Training in the Use of Artificial Intelligence
On November 10, eight teams representing monastic and religious communities of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches began training in the practical application of artificial intelligence. As part of the AI Accelerator program organized by the Platform for Social Change, participants will develop and test tools for the day-to-day work and ministry of their communities.
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This was reported by the Platform for Social Change.
The program aims to help communities streamline their internal processes and free up time for serving others. The teams will work on solutions for coordinating projects, preparing reports, searching for information in internal documents, and organizing educational and charitable activities.
The training will include six practical sessions, independent work, and individual consultations. Lecturer Oleksiy Minakov will help participants master AI tools and develop the first working versions of their own solutions. Mentor Vladyslav Prysyazhnyuk will guide the teams as they test and refine their solutions.
Special attention will be given to the responsible use of technology in accordance with the principles of the Church’s social teaching. The organizers emphasize the importance of protecting confidential information and ensuring human oversight. Personal, pastoral, medical, and other confidential data will not be shared with AI tools. Spiritual guidance, crisis response, and managerial decisions will remain the responsibility of people.
At the end of the training, the teams will present the tools they have developed and the results of their implementation, including whether these tools have helped save time and improve the quality of their work. This will give the communities a basis for deciding how to use and further develop their projects.
In September and October, the Platform for Social Change organized a series of three free online webinars for monastic communities on the responsible use of artificial intelligence. The session on September 24 focused on digital communication, including preparing announcements, responding to questions, and handling feedback. The session on October 8 focused on developing an AI assistant based on a community’s internal materials, while the session on October 22 addressed working with donor information, reporting, and communicating the results of their activities.
The webinars combined hands-on training in the use of AI tools with an exploration of the ethical principles governing their use. The ethical component of the sessions was led by Fr. Mykhailo Melnyk, a priest of the Kyiv Archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and founder of the Platform for Social Change.
The UGCC Department for Information
