Beyond Manila: What the Global South Teaches Us About AI and Wisdom

In the hallways of a recent Anglican higher education conference in Manila, a quiet revelation emerged that challenges the moral panic surrounding artificial intelligence in Western spiritual circles. While North American faculty booed AI at commencement ceremonies and worried about environmental destruction and the erosion of critical thought, leaders from the Global South offered a different spiritual calculus.

According to a survey of 30 institutional leaders from 12 countries presented at the conference, respondents from developing nations emphasized cost, infrastructure and equitable access as primary concerns—not existential threats to human creativity. Twenty-four of the 30 institutions already use AI in teaching and learning, and 20 actively encourage students to use it with guidance. “People of conscience wonder whether refusing these systems is the only ethical response,” noted one conference keynote speaker, “but in Manila, the ethical question looks different.”

This divergence reveals a deeper spiritual truth: wisdom is never universal, but always contextual. For communities lacking basic educational resources, AI may be less a temptation toward convenience and more a tool for liberation. The real ethical challenge may not be whether to use AI, but how to ensure its benefits reach those who need them most—a question that demands we listen to voices beyond our own shores.