AI can write an essay in seconds — but what happens to the mind that never learns to think?

In this episode, host Benjamin Crockett sits down with Fr. Kenny Ang, Research Professor at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, to confront one of the most pressing questions of the AI era: What makes human intelligence different?

Fr. Kenny argues that real learning is embodied, relational, and formed through struggle — something no algorithm can simulate. He explains why universities are facing a hidden crisis of attention, why essays are becoming “AI-vulnerable,” and why he’s shifting his classroom toward oral exams, dialogue, and genuine intellectual formation.

This conversation explores what education must protect in the age of AI and why the Church may be one of the last institutions capable of defending the artisanal, human pursuit of Truth.

Together, they explore why human intelligence is fundamentally relational, how to combat the classroom “attention deficit,” and why the Church may be uniquely placed to defend education as the pursuit of Truth—not just the production of answers.

Timestamps:

• 0:49 Education for Freedom vs. Utility
• 18:05 The AI-Proof Classroom 
• 21:53 Human vs. AI: 'Embodied' Knowledge
• 23:32 Losing the "Artisanal Mind"
• 44:37 The Church's Role in AI