On October 11, 2026,
Prof. Martín Carbajo-Núñez, OFM, will present his new book, Brother Robot: Artificial Intelligence and Franciscan Humanism, at the historic Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, California.
The event is organized by the Secular Franciscan Order, which, as in previous years, invites Prof. Carbajo-Núñez to meet with the local fraternity during the autumn months, while he is teaching at the Franciscan School of Theology.
Brother Robot addresses one of the great challenges of our time: the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence. These new technologies are transforming our world, offering extraordinary possibilities while also raising important questions about the future of humanity, social relationships, and the way we understand freedom, truth, and human dignity.
To address these challenges, the book brings into dialogue the Franciscan intellectual tradition, the encyclical
Magnifica humanitas, and contemporary reflection on artificial intelligence.
The first part of the book explores how the Franciscan tradition contributed to the development of modern scientific and technological rationality. This historical process has led to remarkable advances, but it has also contributed to the emergence of what is now known as the technocratic paradigm, in which efficiency, calculation, and control risk becoming the predominant criteria for understanding reality and even the human person.
In response to this challenge, Brother Robot proposes a humanism of fraternity, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi. This perspective seeks to place technology at the service of the human person and the common good and applies this vision to five fundamental areas: epistemology, politics, economics, culture, and ecology.
The presentation at Mission San Luis Rey will therefore offer an opportunity to reflect on a decisive question for our time: How can we embrace the extraordinary possibilities of artificial intelligence without allowing technological rationality to become the measure of what it means to be truly human?
