Meghan Sullivan
Department of Philosophy
Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy; Director of Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good
- AI ethics
- Love and ethical commitment
- Philosophy of religion
- Philosophy as a way of life
- Time and rational planning
Sullivan’s Latest News
Sullivan in the News
Religion News Service
This historic divinity school is offering the first doctoral degree in ‘AI and Moral Agency’
July 27, 2026
“Almost everybody we’re talking with and working with in higher education right now is just getting really serious about how issues involving artificial intelligence are really shaping a lot of the ethical questions that we want to study going forward, and a lot of the formation work that we need to do with our students,” said Meghan Sullivan, a philosopher and director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good at Notre Dame.
The Wall Street Journal
Pastors Using AI to Help Write Sermons Grapple With Where to Draw the Line
July 19, 2026
Meghan Sullivan, a University of Notre Dame professor of philosophy who is leading a research project on AI and religion, said that using AI to draft anything spoken in worship reflects a basic misunderstanding of what Christians believe is happening when a preacher delivers a homily. Churches, in her view, might be among the last institutions where people are asked to sit still, in silence, and encounter another human being without mediation. “Martin Luther is rolling over in his grave,” she said, at the idea of handing scripture off to what she calls a theological software middleman.
Commonweal
Opinion | Us vs. the Robots: Ensuring the diffusion of Leo’s ethical vision for AI
June 30, 2026
By Meghan Sullivan, a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, where she directs the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and leads a national research initiative on AI and human dignity.
The Tablet (UK)
Opinion | AI gets religion
May 28, 2026
By Meghan Sullivan, the Wilsey Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Axios
5 ways Pope Leo says AI could warp humanity
May 26, 2026
"Pope Leo has announced himself as one of the leading figures in AI ethics now with this document," Meghan Sullivan, director of Notre Dame's Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, tells Axios.
The New York Times
To Understand Pope Leo’s Efforts on A.I., Look at the Man Shaking His Hand
May 26, 2026
Meghan Sullivan, director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, said she often hears a concerning view when she meets with A.I. developers in Silicon Valley — “that only a few hundred people on earth actually matter right now: the ones building frontier models and the politicians powerful enough to regulate them.” “This encyclical is a direct rebuttal to that worldview,” she said.
NPR
Pope Leo's first encyclical will address AI and 'magnificent humanity'
Audio
May 24, 2026
Pope Leo plans to release an encyclical on "safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence." NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to University of Notre Dame professor Meghan Sullivan.
National Catholic Reporter
Why is AI company Anthropic helping launch Pope Leo XIV's encyclical?
May 22, 2026
Among those in attendance was Meghan Sullivan, a philosopher at the University of Notre Dame who directs its Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. "Anthropic is one of these tech companies that really cares about educating all communities, including faith communities, about how these powerful AI models work and what they're good at and what the potential risks are," she said. "And I think right now it's a crucial time for Catholics to really understand this technology and how it's changing our lives and our society and what's likely to happen in the future."
Associated Press
Pope creates artificial intelligence study group as Vatican prepares to release his first encyclical
May 16, 2026
“I think that the Catholic Church in many ways is going to be the adult in the room on some of these debates about how we are going to integrate AI into the rest of our society,” said Meghan Sullivan, a philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame who directs its ethics institute. “For sure, the pope is going to be one of the most forceful advocates for human dignity in these discussions.”
The Washington Post
Can AI be a ‘child of God’? Inside Anthropic’s meeting with Christian leaders.
April 11, 2026
“A year ago, I would not have told you that Anthropic is a company that cares about religious ethics,” said Meghan Sullivan, a philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame who participated in the gatherings. “That’s changed.”
OSV News
Notre Dame’s $50M grant aims to bring faith-based ethics to AI future in big way
January 13, 2026
So who is discussing guardrails and fail-safes to keep humans in control? Who is having the conversations concerning how AI will impact people, and just what an AI future should look like for humanity? One answer: The University of Notre Dame, which recently received from the Lilly Endowment a $50.8 million grant — the largest given by a private foundation in the school’s history — to support the DELTA Network, a faith-based approach to AI ethics launched in September 2025.
Meghan Sullivan, founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and DELTA, said that the grant comes at a key time in the development of AI.
South Bend Tribune
Notre Dame hosts summit exploring role of faith, humanity in age of AI
September 26, 2025
In the summit's keynote speech on Tuesday, Sept. 23, Meghan Sullivan, Wilsey Family College professor of philosophy and director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative, said DELTA is a faith-based framework for approaching AI. Sullivan said AI is revolutionizing how people view ethics — in a way similar to how the atomic bomb presented hard ethical questions during World War II. But unlike the atomic age, she said, Christians haven't been involved in conversations about digitalization and the advent of AI.
WSBT TV
Notre Dame's A.I. Summit focuses on ethical use of developing technology in the workforce
Video
September 24, 2025
Keynote Speaker Meghan Sullivan says introducing the DELTA framework makes a shift away from industry talks around A.I. compliancy, efficiency and privacy. "But when it comes to thinking about the ways that we're going to allow A.I. to transform our workplaces, Catholics and Christians think it's essential that we don't focus on optimization, we focus on human dignity," Sullivan said.
OSV News
Notre Dame summit aims to bring Christian values to AI revolution
September 24, 2025
The university’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and its Ethics Initiative teamed up to host the Notre Dame Summit on AI, Faith and Human Flourishing on the Notre Dame campus from Sept. 22 to 25. Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., opened the summit with a Sept. 22 Mass at which he was the principal celebrant and homilist, with university president Father Robert Dowd, a Holy Cross priest, concelebrating.
During her Sept. 23 keynote address, Meghan Sullivan — professor of philosophy and director of both the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative — said that “discernment is required … more than ever” with the acceleration of AI in an era of “technological triumphalism.”
WVPE
Notre Dame hosts summit on AI, faith, and human flourishing, launches DELTA framework
September 22, 2025
“Much of the discussion around AI ethics right now hovers around what we call the ethical floor. You know, just the rock bottom basic principles about building AI that is safe, AI that's explainable, AI that's fair, and those are all really important, but with the technology this powerful, there are gonna be plenty of other ethical considerations that go way beyond just safety and fairness,” said Dr. Meghan Sullivan, director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good.
Yahoo
Notre Dame hosting summit on AI, keynote speech livestreamed to public on Sept. 23
September 21, 2025
The University of Notre Dame is hosting a summit exploring the impact artificial intelligence could have on everything from education to human relationships. ... Although the summit sessions are by invitation only, the keynote speech by Meghan Sullivan, Wilsey Family College professor of philosophy and director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative, will be livestreamed on the university's website for public viewing.
South Bend Tribune
Notre Dame hosting summit on AI, keynote speech livestreamed to public on Sept. 23
September 19, 2025
The University of Notre Dame is hosting a summit exploring the impact artificial intelligence could have on everything from education to human relationships, with a keynote speech livestream open to the public on Tuesday, Sept. 23. Although the summit sessions are by invitation only, the keynote speech by Meghan Sullivan, Wilsey Family College professor of philosophy and director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative, will be livestreamed on the university's website for public viewing. The speech begins at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday and will provide an introduction to the DELTA framework.
The Conversation
Gut-wrenching love: What a fresh look at the ‘Good Samaritan’ story says for ethics today
February 10, 2025
By Meghan Sullivan, the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy and director of Notre Dame's Institute for Ethics and the Common Good.
Crux
Notre Dame to explore faith-based ethical uses of AI
October 11, 2024
The development of the frameworks will be led by the Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. Meghan Sullivan, the institute’s director, said that “this is a pivotal moment for technology ethics.”
Vogue
Learn Your Stripes: Studying Thom Browne at Notre Dame
April 12, 2023
“When you’re here, you feel that you’re in such a safe, enclosed environment,” says the designer and CFDA Chairman Thom Browne over a bowl of honey-blended yogurt and granola, his gray knit vest catching and softening the springtime light. He’s discussing his impression of The University of Notre Dame, both 30 years ago, when he was a student, and today, when he’s back in South Bend, Indiana to partake in a class dedicated to him called “Strong Suits: The Art, Philosophy and Business of Thom Browne.”
South Bend Tribune
Iris DeMent performs at Notre Dame
February 16, 2023
In addition to her hour-long concert, DeMent will sit down for a live discussion about her life and music with Meghan Sullivan, a professor of philosophy and director of the Notre Dame Institute of Advanced Study.
Commonweal
Good Samaritans?
September 09, 2022
Meghan Sullivan is the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame and the director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Advanced Study.
Commonweal
The Right Questions
Audio
January 13, 2022
Virtue ethics, as Notre Dame’s Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko contend, offers a method for reasoning about, and gaining new insights into, these age-old questions.
WVPE
All IN: The Good Life Method
Audio
January 06, 2022
Meghan Sullivan, Wilsey Family Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame; Co-Author, “The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith and Meaning”. Paul Blaschko, Assistant Teaching Professor of Philosophy,University of Notre Dame; Co-Author, “The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith and Meaning”
The New Yorker
Annals of Inquiry: Being in Time
July 09, 2021
Meghan Sullivan, a philosopher at the University of Notre Dame, contemplates these questions in her book “Time Biases: A Theory of Rational Planning and Personal Persistence.”
Scripps TV, 60+ others
'Pandemic time' can potentially impact emotional health
March 17, 2021
“Philosophers--for the last, I don't know, 2,400 years--have been more in the business of trying to give people advice about how they should think about time, realizing that some of the ways that we ordinarily experience time are bad,” said Meghan Sullivan, the Wilsey Family College professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and author of the book Time Biases.