Technology ethicist Victoria Lorrimar warns AI-driven optimisation dehumanises people

Associate Professor Victoria Lorrimar delivered the fourth annual oration on the feast of Venerable Mary Aikenhead at Australian Catholic University in North Sydney. As director of the Centre for Technology and Human Futures at the University of Notre Dame Australia, she highlighted the growing influence of artificial intelligence and warned that modern culture is increasingly dominated by a mindset of optimisation.

Drawing on Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas*, Lorrimar argued that when efficiency becomes the highest value, individuals are treated as projects to be measured, improved and maximised rather than as persons called to relationship and communion. She cited cultural trends such as biohacking, “aura farming” and “rage baiting,” and illustrated her point with a personal anecdote about becoming obsessed with smartwatch step‑count targets.

Lorrimar cautioned that an over‑reliance on data and metrics can reshape human values, urging society to retain a focus on human dignity amid rapid technological change.