Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was interviewed on May 25th 2025 by George I. Androutsopoulos, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Athens, which was published on Sunday, May 25, 2025, in the University of Athens newspaper, “Vima tis Kyriakis”. We quote below a portion of the interview:
Question: I thank you very much, on behalf of the university community, for the honor and opportunity of our conversation. Let us start with the young people. One - the positive - side is that the students of our University record excellent performance when they continue their studies abroad or participate in international competitions. The other, however, is that our children and young people today spend a large part of their time on Instagram and TikTok, while the rise in the phenomena of violence among young people is impressive. Have the standards and the path of prudence and virtue been lost in our days? How could the University and the Church contribute to a restart?
Answer: Christ is Risen! Thank you very much for the invitation. I am familiar with the newspaper of the University of Athens and I congratulate you for the initiative to create this forum for dialogue and reflection, but also for the effort to highlight the multidimensional work that is being done in your historic educational institution for the benefit not only of the academic community, but also of the entire Greek society.
It is encouraging that the new generation today manages to achieve high goals in various scientific fields. But it is obvious that “formal” education is not enough. A broader social education is necessary that will be based on family principles, social values, interest and respect for fellow human beings, and a culture of solidarity. This requires us to be part of the social whole, to participate, to be interested in the other person and not to live alone in a fictitious self-sufficiency.
Social networks cultivate this feeling since they contribute largely to the development of a false image of the individual, to the strengthening of his “ego”, within a digital world of a virtual reality. Life is not there, it is not digital. Friends are not digitally processed persons that we expect to give us a like or send us a smiley face in order to feel socially accepted. This is not reality.
And we all know that there are many dangers lurking in this. We are not, of course, in danger from the creations of the human intellect, but by the way we use them. Today, we live in the age of communication, but we communicate less and less with each other, face to face.
This is the problem and I fear that it is to a large extent one of the causes of the phenomena of violence.
We think that we communicate, but we live in the solitude of our self-sufficiency, often magnifying our egoism. We forget what it means to share with others, to respect others. That is why I ask your students, our young men and women, not to be trapped in digital golden cages, spending their precious time in a virtual, unreal universe. Go out into the world, breathe the oxygen of communication with fellow human beings.
God created us to live together, in real communities, with people with real needs, not in digital groups with virtual friends who get together for a few likes.
Go out into the real world, discuss, share ideas and concerns, dream. Make the most of your period of study. Get active within the university community and prepare yourself for society, for the arena of life, to make your dreams come true in the real world.
Question: Do you think that we are at risk from the excesses of Artificial Intelligence? Our physical presence already seems unnecessary in some cases, while now computer systems compose poetry or create paintings. Can Artificial Intelligence replace the teacher and acquire a soul and an eternal perspective? How do you see the scenario of machines governing us in the future?
Answer: We live in an era when many times the digital world seems to replace reality. Modern technological capabilities, achievements of the human intellect, constitute an important aid for many branches of science, such as medicine, but if used incorrectly can lead in a completely different direction. This is a challenge that man has faced countless times in his journey through time.
God gave us reason and freedom, but at the same time gave us the responsibility for our choices and actions. Therefore, in my opinion, we are not in danger from Artificial Intelligence, but from the way in which we will use it. It is our creation, our responsibility to use it, and we will certainly experience the results of its misuse. I listen and read carefully the reservations that some experts express. We must be particularly careful as the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence so far, with the countless possibilities it provides, can lead to malicious actions. This is what worries me the most.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Question: I thank you very much, on behalf of the university community, for the honor and opportunity of our conversation. Let us start with the young people. One - the positive - side is that the students of our University record excellent performance when they continue their studies abroad or participate in international competitions. The other, however, is that our children and young people today spend a large part of their time on Instagram and TikTok, while the rise in the phenomena of violence among young people is impressive. Have the standards and the path of prudence and virtue been lost in our days? How could the University and the Church contribute to a restart?
Answer: Christ is Risen! Thank you very much for the invitation. I am familiar with the newspaper of the University of Athens and I congratulate you for the initiative to create this forum for dialogue and reflection, but also for the effort to highlight the multidimensional work that is being done in your historic educational institution for the benefit not only of the academic community, but also of the entire Greek society.
It is encouraging that the new generation today manages to achieve high goals in various scientific fields. But it is obvious that “formal” education is not enough. A broader social education is necessary that will be based on family principles, social values, interest and respect for fellow human beings, and a culture of solidarity. This requires us to be part of the social whole, to participate, to be interested in the other person and not to live alone in a fictitious self-sufficiency.
Social networks cultivate this feeling since they contribute largely to the development of a false image of the individual, to the strengthening of his “ego”, within a digital world of a virtual reality. Life is not there, it is not digital. Friends are not digitally processed persons that we expect to give us a like or send us a smiley face in order to feel socially accepted. This is not reality.
And we all know that there are many dangers lurking in this. We are not, of course, in danger from the creations of the human intellect, but by the way we use them. Today, we live in the age of communication, but we communicate less and less with each other, face to face.
This is the problem and I fear that it is to a large extent one of the causes of the phenomena of violence.
We think that we communicate, but we live in the solitude of our self-sufficiency, often magnifying our egoism. We forget what it means to share with others, to respect others. That is why I ask your students, our young men and women, not to be trapped in digital golden cages, spending their precious time in a virtual, unreal universe. Go out into the world, breathe the oxygen of communication with fellow human beings.
God created us to live together, in real communities, with people with real needs, not in digital groups with virtual friends who get together for a few likes.
Go out into the real world, discuss, share ideas and concerns, dream. Make the most of your period of study. Get active within the university community and prepare yourself for society, for the arena of life, to make your dreams come true in the real world.
Question: Do you think that we are at risk from the excesses of Artificial Intelligence? Our physical presence already seems unnecessary in some cases, while now computer systems compose poetry or create paintings. Can Artificial Intelligence replace the teacher and acquire a soul and an eternal perspective? How do you see the scenario of machines governing us in the future?
Answer: We live in an era when many times the digital world seems to replace reality. Modern technological capabilities, achievements of the human intellect, constitute an important aid for many branches of science, such as medicine, but if used incorrectly can lead in a completely different direction. This is a challenge that man has faced countless times in his journey through time.
God gave us reason and freedom, but at the same time gave us the responsibility for our choices and actions. Therefore, in my opinion, we are not in danger from Artificial Intelligence, but from the way in which we will use it. It is our creation, our responsibility to use it, and we will certainly experience the results of its misuse. I listen and read carefully the reservations that some experts express. We must be particularly careful as the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence so far, with the countless possibilities it provides, can lead to malicious actions. This is what worries me the most.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
