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Australia’s former Chief Scientist says AI a threat to human creativity

ACU Melbourne hosts panel event to discuss Maps of Hope

• ACU held the Australian launch of its world-famous book Maps of Hope, recently verified as human-authored
• Australia’s former Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel was invited to join a panel discussion on AI’s implications on ethics, science, theology and technology
• Maps of Hope was published in collaboration with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education and is the first publication featuring remarks by a global leader of any religion to be verified by Proudly Human.

In the age of artificial intelligence, all responsible creators should be willing to prove their work was created by a human, Australia’s former Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel has said.

Dr Finkel made his comments at a panel discussion for the Australian launch of ACU’s Maps of Hope, a collection of Pope Leo XIV’s early speeches, homilies and messages on education and AI.

The landmark book, launched at ACU Rome in May, was verified last month by Dr Finkel’s own company, Proudly Human, as “human-authored”.

The neuroscientist and inventor joined ACU bioethicist Associate Professor Xavier Symons, one of the contributors to Maps of Hope, and ACU theologian Professor Maeve Heaney, whose research explores human ways of understanding God, for a wide-ranging discussion moderated by ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Zlatko Skrbis on AI’s implications on ethics, science, theology and technology.

At the first of several national events, Dr Finkel said consumers had a fundamental right to know if content was created by a human or not.

“I believe it is a fundamental right for every single human being to be informed as to whether the music, the book, or the video they're about to consume was created by an AI or human,” he said.

“But unless it's labelled one way or the other, how does one make an informed choice?”

Dr Finkel founded Proudly Human to help authors, artists, musicians, educators and even students verify their work as human-authored.

Creators are invited to apply for certification, in which Proudly Human undertakes a strict and rigorous forensic study of the works in question.

“Maps of Hope came through that process as clearly human-authored, and that goes for Pope Leo’s speeches as well as the Cardinal’s foreword, the Vice-Chancellor’s introduction, and the two academic contributions,” Dr Finkel said.

“I'm grateful to ACU for its willingness to go through the process, and for the willingness for the certification to be visible, because it communicates to the lay audience, and to the people who have lost their commitment to human authenticity, that it really is important.”

But Dr Finkel warned that an overreliance on generative-AI could undermine centuries of human progress, not just in creative pursuits but in humanity’s inherent dignity.

“Human beings, because of our intelligence, have become an incredibly successful species built on religion and dignity and all the things that make it worth being alive,” Dr Finkel said.

“We've got to be careful to not condone a technology that's trying to undermine and throw out all that dignity that has been so hard to preserve over the centuries and millennia."

AI is here to stay

As universities grapple with the challenges of AI, Professor Skrbis said ACU was committed more than ever to offering a holistic education.

“At ACU, we often talk about our commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, the dignity of the human person and the common good,” Professor Skrbis said.

“One of the things the discussion around Maps of Hope and Pope Leo’s encyclical has highlighted is the importance of these values and our focus on educating the whole person. This is more important than ever before."

Associate Professor Symons added that university education should be approached as centres of human formation, not degree factories.

“Higher education should prioritise forming the human person to become someone who has trust in others, who is concerned for the common good and has an orientation towards the truth and a love of the truth,” he said.

“That’s something that we at ACU do really well and can really take a lead on in this age of AI.”

Noting that a declaration of human authorship was good practice, Professor Heaney said students and educators could not completely avoid AI so stronger parameters around its use were needed.

“There’s no point saying we’re not going to bring it into our educational spaces because it’s already there, so the honesty and dialogue around it and asking students to name it when they’re using it, and how they’re using it, is the only way forward,” Professor Heaney said.

Maps of Hope was published in collaboration with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education and launched at ACU’s Rome Campus in May 2026.

It is the first publication featuring remarks by a global leader of any religion to be verified by Proudly Human.

ACU’s North Sydney Campus will host the next launch event and discussion panel for Maps of Hope next week.

Register for the event on 10 August here.