Veritas varsity to adopt ethical AI governance framework

Veritas University, Abuja, has made history by becoming the first university in Africa to formally commit to ethical artificial intelligence governance. The institution signed the Humanitas AI Compact, a cross-sector framework designed to ensure AI development and deployment prioritize human dignity and the common good.

This significant step is the university's institutional response to "Magnifica Humanitas," a papal declaration by Pope Leo XIV. The declaration called upon universities and learning centers globally to assume responsibility for the ethical governance of artificial intelligence, ensuring emerging technologies remain centered on humanity.

The signing ceremony occurred during the university's 154th Senate meeting. Vice-Chancellor Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku signed the compact on behalf of Veritas University. He described the move as a direct response to the Pope's call for academic institutions to lead in shaping AI's ethical direction.

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The Humanitas AI Compact exists because of Magnifica Humanitas. In Magnifica Humanitas, the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, called on universities and institutions of learning by name to take up their responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence. This Compact is our institutional response to that call, beginning from Africa and extending to all institutions entrusted with the formation, protection, education, healing, governance, and advancement of the human person.

Ichoku emphasized that universities must not only engage with technology but also guide its moral and social implications. "AI must serve humanity: the poor, the sick, the migrant, the displaced by war, women and girls, and all those vulnerable to exclusion, poverty, conflict, sickness, displacement, manipulation, and invisibility," he stated, echoing the papal message's focus on protecting vulnerable populations and promoting inclusive development.

Other signatories present included representatives from the Institute for African American Studies, the Commonwealth Forum, the Centre for AI, Digital Justice and Economic Rights, and the African Institute of Public Health. The university stressed the importance of moving beyond academic acknowledgment of ethical frameworks to active institutional implementation.

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AI must serve humanity: the poor, the sick, the migrant, the displaced by war, women and girls, and all those vulnerable to exclusion, poverty, conflict, sickness, displacement, manipulation, and invisibility.