The University of Notre Dame has been awarded a $50.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support the DELTA Network: Shaping Faith-Based Ethics for a Powerful AI World. The grant, led by the Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG), is the largest award to the University of Notre Dame by a private foundation in the university's history and will fund the further development of a common faith-based ethical framework that scholars, faith leaders, technology leaders, teachers, journalists, young people, and the broader public can use to determine appropriate uses of artificial intelligence (AI).
This grant will also support the establishment of a robust interconnected network that will provide practical resources to help address the challenges posed by rapidly evolving AI. This framework is based on the principles and values of the Christian tradition and is designed to be accessible to people of all faith perspectives.
“We are deeply grateful to the Lilly Endowment for their generous support of this critically important initiative,” said CSC President Robert A. Dowd. “Pope Leo “As a Catholic university seeking to advance human flourishing, Notre Dame is well positioned to build bridges between religious leaders and educators.” People who create and use new technologies can explore moral and ethical issues related to AI together. ”
With the support of a $539,000 planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded in October 2024, ECG has spent the past year mapping the landscape of faith-based research in AI ethics. Based on insights from more than 200 conversations with representatives of these various stakeholders, ECG created DELTA, a Christian-inspired ethical framework that stands for dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence, and agency. The framework was launched at the first Notre Dame Summit on AI, Faith, and Human Thriving in September 2025.
“The continued support of the Lilly Endowment allows Notre Dame to address one of the defining challenges of our time: how to guide the use of artificial intelligence with wisdom, responsibility, and a commitment to human dignity,” said Charles and Jill Fisher Dean John T. McGreevey. “As one of the world’s leading Catholic research universities with deep partnerships across technology, faith, and academia, we are uniquely positioned to host these conversations.”
N. Clay Robbins, chairman and CEO of Lilly Endowment, said, “The deep engagement and support from a wide range of participants for the further development of the DELTA framework at the Notre Dame Summit was most compelling.” “Lilly Endowment is pleased to support this effort, which recognizes the beneficial opportunities that AI offers while encouraging its use in line with important moral and ethical values rooted in religious insight and tradition.”
Notre Dame's DELTA network will be organized around an interdisciplinary and intergenerational community of practice focused on education, pastoral service, and public engagement. A community of practice will come together to learn about and address the principles of a faith-based ethical framework. These will foster relationships between those developing AI technologies and those in education, workplaces, religious communities, and various public spheres who need to determine how AI can be used ethically.
As part of the project, ECG will launch a series of programs to encourage and support young people to act on beliefs formed on the DELTA principles. Additionally, the Institute will develop hubs in communities in Silicon Valley and the Northeastern United States to invite technology leaders and the public to join the DELTA principles through issue-focused events and retreats.
Each community of practice will be supported by timely, high-impact resources, programs, and events that enable and leverage continued engagement with the DELTA framework, and develop a common language and set of tools to energize and guide conversations about the ethics of AI and its applications.
DELTA builds on collaborations already in place around technology ethics, including university-IBM partnerships through the University of Notre Dame and IBM's Institute for Technology Ethics.
“Here at the University of Notre Dame, we are committed to drawing on our Catholic and Christian traditions to shape public thinking about how humans can thrive in an AI-driven world,” said Megan Sullivan, professor of philosophy at Willsey Family College and director of ECG and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative. “With this initiative, Notre Dame and ECG grow our network of business leaders, faith leaders, educators, storytellers and others to deepen our mission of advancing ethics and the common good. This commitment is more important than ever given the immense impact that AI will have on our lives.”
If you would like to stay connected to DELTA and this effort, please visit ethics.nd.edu/DELTA and join the DELTA mailing list.
The University of Notre Dame has always had a focus on ethics, both in research and formation. In 2024, the university strengthened its commitment to this area with the launch of a university-wide ethics initiative. This initiative aims to establish Notre Dame as a leading global destination for the study of ethics, providing excellent training for future generations of ethicists and moral leaders, providing a platform for connecting the Catholic moral tradition with other modes of inquiry, and providing opportunities to build insight into some of the most important ethical issues of our time.
A distinctive component of the Ethics Initiative, the Ethics Common Good Institute fosters interdisciplinary research in basic and applied ethics, coordinates projects across departments and divisions, and supports ethics-related education and public engagement efforts.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private foundation established in 1937 by JK Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and JK Jr. through a gift of stock in the pharmaceutical business Eli Lilly and Company. Although these donations remain the financial basis of the Fund, the Fund is a separate entity from the Company and has a distinct governing board, staff, and location. In keeping with the wishes of its founders, the Foundation supports community development, education and religious causes, maintaining a special commitment to its hometown of Indianapolis and its home state of Indiana. The primary purpose of the Fund's religious grants is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking and supporting initiatives that increase the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Fund also seeks to improve public understanding of religion and the role of people of all faiths and religious communities in the United States and around the world in a fair, accurate, and balanced manner.
contact: Carrie Gates, Associate Director of Media Relations, 574-993-9220, c.gates@nd.edu
