What Can Zen Tell Us About a World with AI? (Member Seminar)

What might Buddhist teachings on interdependence, emptiness, mind, and ethics contribute to the rapidly evolving conversation around artificial intelligence? In this seminar, members of the Buddhism & AI Initiative will explore how contemplative traditions can inform questions of agency, alignment, consciousness, and how we navigate technological change.

We will be visited by pioneers of the Buddhism/AI conversation — the Buddhism and AI Initiative, a  nonprofit effort to amplify Buddhist voices in shaping the creation, governance, and use of transformative technology. It is committed to promoting freedom of attention and intention to preserve meaningful human agency in an era of rapid AI advancement. In addition to providing educational workshops for Buddhist leaders and communities across traditions, they have:

• Initiated a collaborative effort among Buddhist scholars and practitioners to draft an authoritative, unified Buddhist ethical response to AI, modeled in spirit after major interfaith technology declarations.
• Co-organized a five-day international conference on Buddhism and AI in Austria alongside the University of Vienna, Mind & Life Europe, and the Italian Buddhist Union, bringing global leaders together to address AI ethics, attention, and education.
• Conducted over 500 stakeholder interviews with Buddhist teachers, academics, and AI researchers. This research culminated in their published Six-Domain Framework, which categorizes the key areas where Buddhist wisdom and AI development intersect.

Learn more via their substack or their webpage.