Catholic Institute of Technology

Just realized - it is. Contact Privacy Inc. has a Toronto phone number. And Magisterium AI? It's US-based. Interesting enterprise. One of their people is now on Catholic Tech's staff.
https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2023/08/new-magisterium-ai-adds-ecclesial-twist-to-artificial-intelligence

 

You will never know; eventually, there will be AI Deacons, AI Priests, AI Bishops, AI Arch Bishops, AI Cardinals, and AI Pope.

 

For now, that's going a bit far, I think. But I'm wondering if, just possibly, Catholic Tech has an AI-written website -- it has a bit of that disquieting smoothness - and facile adroitness in descriptive passages, to it. Nah - probably my overactive imagination. Or is it?

 

Maybe translated with AI assistance? Which would be unsurprising for a multi-national endeavor like this.

 

Quite possibly. Italian staff in Rome write it for their market and need an idiomatic English version pronto. Makes sense. I'm not disquieted any more. The more I look at it -- wow. AI can do that job - WELL!

 

That's almost incredible! I'm beaten! ¡Nunca volveré a escribir en español! - I'll never write in Spanish again. (Lie.)

 

Yes, very amazing!

 

I bet everyone, especially Sr. Milei himself, was surprised to hear how well he spoke English.

 

The Cambridge address is an office share space: Need Office Space? Schedule a Tour | CIC

The Castel Gandolfo address show up as a wall in Google maps.

But Catholic clergy are involved and of course they almost never get involved in iffy ventures unless we count the Vatican Bank and other unmentionables.

My guess it is an attempt at a start-up - they almost certainly do not have accreditation in Italy to confer degrees.

Recognised institutions and accredited courses - CIMEA

They also have no scruples about bending the truth, since they have no students or campus:

"An American university located in the scenic Alban Hills of Castel Gandolfo, CatholicTech is a leading institution for scientific research and technical education. As a community of saints, scholars, and scientists, we are uniquely positioned to serve the Church and society."

 

Castel Gandolfo is a village of 8k people as well as the name of a papal palace. Quite a few expat American and anglophone students in Rome (generally at papal universities) live in Castel Gandalfo, because it's a relatively inexpensive place to live and a short train ride away (like going to NYU and living in Queens).

The people involved seem serious, but not expert in launching this kind of venture. The main question is how much funding they have. It looks like William "Bill" Haughey is the chairman of the board and runs a construction company and he's a member of Legatus, a fellowship of Catholic businessmen, which suggests his company meets their membership criteria, which is payroll of 40 employees or $1.5 million annual payroll and volume of $9m revenue or $2m in commissions. So he's got a substantial business if not a vast amount of wealth.

A number of American universities are based abroad, like the American University in Rome (and similar in Greece, Paris, Lebanon, Egypt, etc.). Typically they're accredited and incorporated in the U.S.

 

I agree with jonlevy that they should be more straightforward about the fact that this university doesn't actually exist yet except on paper.