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EP#73 - AI, The Church and a Post-Work World With Matthew Sanders

Leaving Egypt Podcast

In this episode, Al Roxburgh and Jenny Sinclair meet Matthew Sanders. Amid conflicting claims about AI, Matthew brings a leading tech practitioner’s experience and rare ethical seriousness. He speaks of what he calls the coming “existential cliff” — the disruption AI and robotics will bring to work, identity and meaning — in societies weakened by Western individualism. Though optimistic, he warns the transition will be messy. The classical, GDP-shaped model of work is ending; what replaces it will appear as we find new forms of work and vocation, and discern what must remain human. For Matthew, the AI revolution is not only economic and technological; it is an anthropological event. His hope rests less in technology than in the Church recovering its vocation as a place of human, intellectual and spiritual formation. Drawing on Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas, Matthew locates resolution not in Silicon Valley but in small communities gathered around church life. Just as the monasteries emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, Matthew believes the parish is called to become “the ark for a post-work world.” Matthew Harvey Sanders is Founder and CEO of Longbeard, the leading mission-driven technology company building faithful, Catholic-oriented artificial intelligence. The Longbeard team has developed some of the most significant Catholic AI initiatives in the world, including Magisterium AI, a powerful large language model trained exclusively on official Church documents and ancient Christian manuscripts; Vulgate AI, a dedicated tool for biblical access and study; and Ephrem, the world’s first fully dedicated Catholic AI. Sanders is committed to creating technology that fosters human solidarity, serves the Church, and challenges the dominant technocratic paradigms of our age. He is also the founder of the Builders AI Forum and has served as a digital strategist for numerous Catholic nonprofits, creating ethical tech platforms for evangelisation and environmental education. Matthew is Canadian, and now lives in Rome. LINKS For Matthew Sanders: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-harvey-sanders/ https://www.magisterium.com https://www.longbeard.com/blog/the-reality-of-ai-and-the-crisis-of-meaning https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AI-and-the-Future-of-Work-T4CG-report-June-2026.pdf Magnifica Humanitas For Alan J Roxburgh: http://alanroxburgh.com/about Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork Books: Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unravelling: Leadership in a Changing World (with Roy Searle) Joining God in the Great Unravelling Leadership, God’s Agency and Disruptions Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time For Jenny Sinclair: Substack: https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair Website: https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/T4CG Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/ Get full access to Leaving Egypt at leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe