AI Use & Catholic Ethics Policy

Our Mission

 

At Talmid Studios™, our mission is to share the truth of Jesus Christ through faithful, creative, and accessible media. We embrace new tools — including Artificial Intelligence (AI) — as a way to support our ministry, but never at the expense of truth, human dignity, or Catholic integrity. This policy explains exactly how we use AI, how our process aligns with Catholic teaching, and how you can hold us accountable.​​

 

​

Catholic Ethical Framework

 

​

Our approach to AI is guided by:

• Pope Francis, “Artificial Intelligence and Peace” – AI must serve the dignity of the human person, the common good, and transparency.

• Pontifical Academy for Life, “Rome Call for AI Ethics” – Transparency, inclusion, accountability, impartiality, reliability, and security.

• Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1730–1748, 2464–2499) – Human freedom and responsibility, moral truthfulness, and communication that upholds the dignity of the person.
   

We will always update our practices if the Holy Father or Magisterium offers further guidance — and if the Church were to ask us to stop using AI, we would immediately do so.

​

 

Our AI Use — by Project

 

The Little Why™ Blog & Podcast

​

• Topics and messaging come from the founder’s catechist background, prayer, and personal study.

• ChatGPT Pro and sometimes Gemini are used to brainstorm outlines, clarify flow, and refine readability.

• All theological claims are checked against the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Scripture, and trusted Catholic sources.

• AI assists with SEO optimization (keywords, meta descriptions, schema tags) alongside Wix AI tools.

• The blog serves as the base for podcast episodes, which are delivered in a natural, conversational style.
   

 

Sacred Art

​

• All art begins with a human-directed concept.

• ChatGPT image generation (and sometimes Adobe Firefly) produces base images, which are heavily reviewed and edited in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom to ensure reverence and theological accuracy.

• Generative tools may be used for backgrounds, but all final imagery is human-approved and refined.

• Alt text and image descriptions are created with AI assistance.

 

​

Sacred Music

​

• Song concepts, lyrics, and themes originate from the founder.

• ChatGPT assists with lyric refinement and stylistic alignment.

• Suno (paid) generates initial compositions under commercial rights, followed by multiple iterations to achieve the desired sound.

• Final mastering is completed in Adobe Audition.

• All music is offered free on YouTube, with streaming revenue as the only monetization — no ads, no paywalls, no subscriptions.
   

 

Saint Sharla™ Animated Series

​

• Entirely human-directed creative work rooted in the founder’s personal testimony, family history, and life experience.

• Character designs begin with AI-assisted concept art but are fully customized in Adobe Creative Cloud tools (Character Animator, Photoshop, After Effects).

• Scripts are developed in the same collaborative process as our blogs but are even more heavily human-refined due to their creative and personal nature.

• No AI auto-animation is used; all animation is manually crafted.

 

​

Social Media & Video Content

​

• For series like Did You Know™ and other reels, AI-generated art is created under human direction, then refined in Photoshop.

• Final products are assembled in After Effects with text, storyline, and multiple visual layers.

• AI may assist with idea brainstorming, caption drafting, but all posts are heavily edited and refined for tone, clarity, and theological accuracy.
   

 

Parent Guides & Printables

​

• Created in the same collaborative process as our blog content: human-led concept, AI-assisted drafting, final theological review.

• Designed for clarity, accuracy, and ease of use by Catholic families.

​

​

talmidAI

Talmid Studios also offers an AI-powered chatbot for educational and catechetical purposes. This is governed by a separate, dedicated policy which explains its design, limitations, and safeguards to ensure alignment with Catholic teaching. You can read that policy here.

 

​

Our Commitments

​​

• Transparency – Every AI-assisted work includes our disclaimer: 👉 Talmid Studios™: AI-assisted, faith-led, human-crafted.

• Accountability – All content is ultimately authored, reviewed, and approved by a human.

• Truthfulness – All theological claims are checked against the Catechism and magisterial teaching.

• Reverence – No AI-generated depiction of Jesus, Mary, or saints is used without careful human review and editing for accuracy and respect.

• Free Access – All content is free to access with no paywalls or subscription requirements. Our revenue model is limited to voluntary donations, merchandise sales, and optional music streaming — used solely to support the mission.

• Data Privacy: We do not input personal, confidential, or user-specific data into AI models when creating our content. For full details, see our Data Privacy Policy.

 

​

How We Meet Catholic Guidelines

​

• Human dignity first (Pope Francis) — AI is only a tool; all final decisions and creative direction are human-led.

• Transparency (Rome Call for AI Ethics) — Clear public labeling of AI-assisted work; this policy is public and detailed.

• Accountability (Rome Call; CCC 1730–1748) — Human review is required for all publishing; the founder retains full authorship responsibility.

• Truthfulness (CCC 2464–2499) — All content is cross-checked against Catholic teaching and credible sources.

• Common good (Pope Francis) — Content is designed for evangelization, catechesis, and spiritual encouragement.

• Bias awareness (Rome Call) — AI outputs are directed to align with Catholic teaching; secular views are presented fairly when addressed.

• Prayerful discernment (Catholic social teaching) — All creative direction is grounded in prayer and discernment; technology never replaces relationship with God.

 

​

Questions or Concerns

​

We welcome feedback and dialogue.

If you have any concerns about our AI use or questions about our process, please contact us at: 📧 info@talmidstudios.com

​​

We are committed to remaining in full harmony with the Church’s teaching and guidance.

If at any time the Holy Father or Magisterium directs otherwise, we will immediately adapt or discontinue AI use.