The CSDB is involved in the following projects:
– the International Salesian Commission on Artificial Intelligence (ISCAI);
– the Research Project on Ethical Challenges and Opportunities for the Integration of AI in Salesian Higher Education Institutions (IUS) in Europe
– and the Artificial Intelligence Developers Forum (BAIF).
The Don Bosco Study Centre, in turn, promotes a pragmatic community, committed to supporting the development of AI products that respond to the mission of the Salesian Family in today's world. For example, it has already developed two interesting products.
The first is "Salesian & Don Bosco Research", a personalised model of GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer – Generative Artificial Intelligence based on deep learning), developed by Fr Michal Vojtáš, SDB. This programme was designed to explore the rich heritage, educational methods and spirituality of the Salesian tradition inspired by St Francis de Sales and made real in the Salesian Family founded by St John Bosco. Designed to offer insights into Salesian history, pedagogy and youth ministry, it makes use of fundamental texts of the Salesian tradition, covering the following areas:
– Salesian sources: including writings by and about Don Bosco, for an in-depth understanding of his life, his mission and the expansion of the Salesian Family;
– History of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians;
– the Preventive System in Salesian education and pedagogy, in developments over the centuries;
– Salesian Spirituality, inspired by St Francis de Sales and St John Bosco;
– contemporary Salesian Youth Ministry, inspired by the latest edition of the Salesian Youth Ministry Framework document;
– Salesian educative and pastoral planning in different cultural and linguistic contexts;
A valuable tool for educators, scholars and members of the Salesian Family, this GPT offers contextualised indications, helping users to better understand values, teaching methods and historical development, both through primary sources and through contemporary analyses.
The second product is Vulgate: a Digital Library Platform powered by Artificial Intelligence. It is an innovative library platform developed by the "Longbeard" team of Catholic AI developers and customised for the needs of Salesian Studies. This library leverages several AI technologies, including Generative AI, computer vision and Natural Language Processing, to offer the following features to the Salesian library:
– Neural search: Vulgate uses AI-based neural search, which semantically understands the request and provides more relevant results based on intent and context;
– Interlingual searches: it is possible to search in one language and obtain materials in other languages, significantly expanding the results from a multilingual library;
– Keyword search: Vulgate also offers a classic keyword search which retrieves results based on the presence of terms in the text of documents;
– Automatic summaries of texts: through Generative AI, Vulgate allows users to easily summarise key passages or chapters of the library's contents;
– Machine translation: Vulgate uses powerful AI translation technology to make content written in languages unknown to them accessible to users;
– Personal library: each user can create a personal library where they can save their favourite texts or search results, as well as comment, highlight and share content.
With these tools, the Don Bosco Study Centre and the entire Pontifical Salesian University demonstrate that they adhere to their vocation for scientific research and know how to move in harmony with the Church, the Congregation and current times.
