Learn Buddhism: Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) And Buddhism

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is capturing everyone's attention at the moment. From ChatGPT to Microsoft's Bing chat and Co-Pilot, to Google Bard. It can seemingly be like talking to a real person who then gives you answers or helps you with things. But can AI ever become a sentient being and become enlightened, or become a Buddha? "Does AI have Buddha nature?!". I explore that question in this episode and my opinion on it. I'll also talk about what AI could possibly do for us in Buddhism.

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Learn Buddhism.

I'm Alan Pedoe.

Does artificial intelligence or AI have sentience?

Can it have Buddha nature?

Can it achieve nirvana,

Enlightenment?

What does AI mean in the Buddhist context?

At the time of this episode we're seeing lots of AI on the market whether that's from OpenAI with ChatGPT or maybe Microsoft or Google.

Everyone seems to be releasing some type of AI product.

So we are thinking as Buddhists can AI evolve to a point where it can become sentient,

A sentient being,

And be able to become enlightened,

Awaken to the truth,

Be able to realize nirvana?

And you know what?

Can it even have Buddha nature?

Could it eventually be a Buddha as well?

So this is of course my opinions in this episode,

But I would argue that no.

Artificial intelligence or AI as we know it right now and probably into the future will be nowhere close to being sentient in the way that we think of it in Buddhism.

So let's take a step back and look at at least what we have in our world right now.

So artificial intelligence is really just programming and very clever programming.

It's going to a variety of different sources to be able to pull that information and to feed it back to you so it understands what you're asking and able to respond to you with information and help in ways that seem very much like a human is at the other end.

A very smart human that can get you things pretty quickly.

And we like that about AI like oh hey can you write me a letter or an email that's about this topic and well it does that for you.

But it's actually going out and pulling information or having in this database that's allowing it to be able to come up with those answers.

And it's using different programming and logic and parameters to be able to go this is how I should be formatting that and here's maybe how I've seen it elsewhere and to be able to formulate it that way.

So is it like a being?

No it's not.

You know artificial intelligence is not a sentient being anywhere close at this particular point.

It may mimic that's why it's artificial.

It's artificial intelligence.

And really is it really even intelligent at this point?

We can say it is because it has this programming behind it and be able to do things.

But it's not the same way as we might think of a human being and the intelligence that we're gonna have inside our brain and how our brain works in our mind right.

So that comes back to the whole topic of artificial intelligence and Buddhism.

Yeah maybe in the future there will be some miraculous progression on this technology where it comes very close or is similar to mimicking the human brain and how it works or other sentient beings for that matter.

So sentient beings in Buddhism are not just humans.

We have many realms of rebirth in Buddhism and we can even take one that we're probably very close to and that's going to be the animal realm.

So animals are sentient beings in Buddhism as well.

But as we look at these different realms of rebirth and I'm not going to go into much detail about it because I've talked about this in prior episodes.

But the realms of rebirth,

The human realm,

Is really the only realm where we can achieve enlightenment where we can realize nirvana and go through the Mahayana path.

We can eventually become a Buddha,

Dothan Theravada,

Become an Arhat.

So we're looking at the human realm as really that perfect environment that has all the right conditions for us for enlightenment in the Buddhist context.

The rest of the realms do not.

So even at the animal realm,

There are sentient beings but they are not capable to achieve the same things we are in this realm.

And human realm,

We use humans to identify ourselves,

Right?

But in the larger Buddhist context,

It refers to beings that could be like humans as well.

So obviously we don't know what else is out there in our universe but Buddhism encompasses that.

It's like,

Yes,

There's going to be life around the universe.

We can barely see outside of our galaxy but they're saying,

Yes,

Life exists elsewhere and that would be considered part of the human realm in that broad category.

But when we're talking about Buddhism and enlightenment and nirvana and sentience,

We have to think why AI doesn't really fit in there and why there's nothing to be worried about in the Buddhist context with AI.

So for a being,

And we're going to use humans in this context,

For humans to be able to become enlightened just like we saw Siddhartha Gautama,

Just like we saw his enlightened followers and other Buddhas and other Bodhisattvas and everybody else that we have in this Buddhist cosmology.

We are seeing that they are in the human realm.

This is where really that mud,

That nutrient-rich mud,

Gives life to enlightenment.

And we're also seeing that there has to be this right force.

It can't be this wonderful environment like we might have in the heavenly realms.

They're not able to become Buddhas or become enlightened like we were going to think about it.

Or even as we get to the lower realms,

That's not going to be the conditions for enlightenment either,

Even though it can be very challenging.

Here we're having this mixture of pleasure and we're having mixtures of suffering and dissatisfaction and unsatisfactoriness.

We have the right catalyst here in this human realm and as human beings to achieve enlightenment.

AI,

At least as how I understand it and how probably it's going to evolve in a future,

Probably give me the same thing,

It doesn't have the ability to have the unsatisfactoriness,

The suffering,

The conditions like we do.

So AI becoming a Buddha?

No,

Can't.

AI becoming Arhat?

No.

Bodhisattva?

No.

They're not able to become enlightened.

They're not able to put out the three fires or three poisons of greed,

Anger,

And ignorance because they are artificial.

This sentience is artificial.

It's not even sentient at this point.

Let's imagine it would be in a future.

It's artificial.

And we can even maybe go piece this out and go,

Well,

What about the karma that they create?

Okay,

So let's take it where it's just,

You know,

Through your computer or your device at this particular point.

Yes,

It could create karma in that way,

Right?

But is it karma in the way that we think about it as humans?

No.

So it can maybe lie to you,

It could maybe tell you to do something right.

These are not willful,

Intentional actions that we look at in Buddhism as karma.

We have wholesome and unwholesome karma.

How will artificial intelligence understand what's wholesome or unwholesome?

Is it just gonna be programming?

So as sentient beings,

As humans,

We are clouded to the truth.

We are delusional about our world we're living in.

We're ignorant to the truth that Buddha taught.

And that results in our greed and anger,

All these different things that create karmic actions and trap us in the cycle of rebirth.

I think that's really important because no matter what realm of rebirth you find yourself in,

We're trapped.

We're trapped in a cycle.

AI is not trapped in any cycle.

It doesn't have a mind stream of consciousness that we talk about in Buddhism.

There is nothing for,

If there were karma to be created,

If there were willful,

Intentional actions created by AI,

Let's say,

That happens.

There's no mind stream.

There's no consciousness.

So there's no way for that to go through the cycle of rebirth.

AI cannot experience rebirth in the hell realm or animal realm or even the heavenly realm.

Let's say it's the most perfect AI in existence and can spout off a lot of Buddhist teachings and concepts and help people.

There's no karma there it's creating that allows it maybe to go to a heavenly realm or even to achieve enlightenment,

Right?

So because it doesn't have the fundamental building blocks that the Buddha talked about,

For example,

It doesn't have the five aggregates or five skandhas that make up a sentient being.

And because it doesn't have that,

It can't experience things like we can.

To give you an example,

We have the five sense organs and sense objects.

So if I results in visible form,

That's the objects.

We have the ear,

We can hear sound,

We have the nose,

We can smell odor,

Got a tongue,

We can taste,

We got body,

We get tangible feeling from that,

And we have the mind with thoughts and ideas.

So as we interact with sense objects,

With our sense organs,

This results in really our illusionary world.

We have perceptions and assumptions,

We have ideas about what we are interacting with.

This is why the Buddha said in one of some very famous sermon that everything's on fire because of our sense organs,

The way we are seeing,

Experiencing,

Interacting with all these sense objects,

With our sense organs,

And giving rise to them in our mind.

That is dangerous in Buddhism because it is giving rise to everything from our false belief in a permanent unchanging independent self,

Is giving rise to things we believe in which are not true in the full Buddhist context,

And that gives rise of course to karmic actions.

And karmic actions are what trap us in a cycle of rebirth.

So AI can't do that.

AI is incapable of having the right conditions for enlightenment.

It is incapable of experiencing the dukkha,

The suffering or unsatisfactoriness of samsara,

This constant realms of rebirth we're being thrown into in a cycle of rebirth.

So it's incapable of experiencing that.

It can't be a sentient being in the context of Buddhism,

Nor can it because of that ever achieve enlightenment or nirvana.

And even more broadly as I mentioned,

Can't even become a Buddha.

So all sentient beings,

At least in a Mahayana context,

Can become a Buddha.

That is the Mahayana path,

The path of the Bodhisattva.

And in Theravada you have exceptional beings like Siddhartha Gautama,

Who was on the Bodhisattva path before and became a Buddha.

And there were Buddhas before Gautama or Shakyamuni Buddha,

And there will be Buddhas in the future.

And because of that,

That's showing that yes,

When you arise in these sentient being forms,

These temporary conditioned existence,

You can become a Buddha.

But AI cannot.

Even if you were to put AI into some type of biological body,

Let's say,

It still cannot.

But it also raises questions.

Well,

What if you did put AI,

Let's say,

In the distant future,

Inside a biological body or even a human body?

Let's say you could even download AI into the brain,

Right?

And so now you really have this being,

You know,

All looks like a human being,

Is acting like a human being,

But it's programming that's running up in the brain,

In the mind,

Right?

Can it create the karma?

Can it experience this unsatisfactoriness?

That's quite a question,

You know,

Probably for the future.

But we are nowhere at all close to that.

And I doubt very much we ever will be.

But of course we might.

But that's something that the Buddha never talked about.

And we can argue,

Well,

The Buddha wasn't gonna know anything about computers or technology based upon where he lived and the time he lived in.

And that could be an argument.

But we saw that the Buddha was very expansive in a lot of things that took centuries to really understand in maybe our modern context.

And we go,

Oh,

Look at that.

The Buddha actually understood that.

But the Buddha was very clear about who needed liberation from samsara,

Sentient beings.

And he was clear on what the sentient beings were.

And because of that,

AI being a sentient being,

Enlightenment,

Nirvana,

Having Buddha nature,

Becoming a Buddha,

Becoming a bodhisattva,

Becoming an arhat,

No.

It's not gonna happen.

It's something that's probably being entertained and discussed right now in our world,

Especially in Buddhist circles.

Because,

You know,

We're looking at technology.

We live in this technology,

In this world.

And we see it.

We're curious.

Yeah,

This is really interesting.

Can it be something that is going to mimic us?

And if so,

Why couldn't it be Buddhist?

And as I mentioned,

That's probably not gonna happen anytime soon in any of our lifetimes,

Probably.

But we can also look at how AI can help us as Buddhists and in our world.

So as Buddhists,

We want to eliminate,

Reduce the suffering of others.

It doesn't matter what branch of Buddhism you're in.

Of course,

In Mahayana,

We have the bodhisattva vow,

And we're trying to,

You know,

Alleviate the suffering of others.

But you also have that in Theravada as well,

Of course,

You know,

Where you have generosity and loving-kindness as practiced between both branches.

So as we look at AI,

Is AI being used responsibly?

And I think that's going to be a good question and a good discussion,

More so than if AI would ever be sentient or have Buddha nature or become a Buddha or anything like that.

So how AI is used in that context,

I think,

Is a very good discussion.

And of course,

Everything that we do in life has to be done with a balance.

And we've seen that prior to this big AI explosion,

And even when I was growing up,

There was very rudimentary AI,

If you want to call it that.

It was just programming.

You would ask it questions and stuff would come back.

But you could really tell that,

You know,

It wasn't really artificial intelligence like we have nowadays.

But even if we were to go 50 years into the future right now,

We'd look back at what we have today and go,

Really,

That was it?

It's not going to look very much like artificial intelligence to us.

So we must realize we're just,

Of course,

Progressing along this path.

So can AI help us?

Maybe,

In a way where we could better understand Buddha's teachings,

Or that we may be able to understand or decipher,

If you will,

Very complex and hard to understand concepts.

And I think that would be probably a good thing.

Are we able to put the collective works of very important Buddhist masters,

Teachers that we have around the world,

Some that have already left us,

You know,

What could we learn from them if they were still living?

How could we ask a teacher if we don't have a teacher in front of us?

Can AI fill in the gap?

And I think there is possibilities there where we could do that,

Where you could have all their collected works,

For example,

Almost like a gigantic knowledge base with their desks,

Their books,

Their videos,

Their audio,

Their teachings,

Right?

And you have all these different things that are available in this big database.

And then AI,

Based upon your query,

Your questions,

Is able to come back and formulate a response to you.

And you can further refine that,

Like,

Thank you,

That's helpful,

But I really don't understand what you mean maybe by emptiness in this context.

And then it could go and understand that and pull from that database and the prior conversation that's going on and be able to answer you to help you understand it.

Now,

That could be very helpful,

Of course.

But the problem is,

We want to make sure that it's also not just going off on a tangent.

We've seen that with AI right now,

Where the longer,

At least at the time of this episode,

The longer the conversation goes on,

The more AI gets confused.

And of course,

They'll work all this out.

It's just,

You know,

Emerging technology in the way we're using it right now.

It'll all get worked out.

But it goes to that point where we have to be careful that AI is just programming.

It is just technology.

And it's prone to errors.

Whereas a human,

Yes,

A human could willfully make that mistake or on those actions say something they know they shouldn't say.

But it's not like talking to a Buddhist teacher that you trust and that you're also in many different traditions in Buddhism.

It's beyond intellectual.

It's beyond just that talking.

It's the practice.

It's engaging with your teacher.

There's mind to mind transmission.

There's lots of different things in Buddhism that goes beyond what AI would ever be capable of.

And we're looking at that lineage in the many of the traditions that send all the way back to the Buddha.

So AI can't fill in those gaps.

But I think we can find a role for it in Buddhism in the educational context.

We just have to be very careful of that and understand the limitations and then make sure it understands.

Of course,

There's many different traditions in Buddhism.

There's two gigantic major branches of Buddhism.

And so we have different ways of understanding things.

But that's something I don't think we're anywhere close to at this point,

But is becoming very close that we could use it in that context.

So I think to kind of sum it all up,

Is AI ever going to have Buddha nature?

No.

Is it going to achieve enlightenment,

Realize nirvana,

Become a Bodhisattva,

Arhat,

Buddha?

No,

It's not able to do that.

At least I can see in the foreseeable future either.

It doesn't have the right makeup,

If you will,

The right building blocks,

As the Buddha described it,

To experience the unsatisfactoriness that leads,

The dukkha that leads us,

Challenges us,

To go down the Buddha's path and the path that he specified.

Or if we want to look even at celestial Buddhas,

The path they specify,

In order to become liberated,

Enlightened,

Become an Arhat or a Buddha or a Bodhisattva path,

We don't have that with AI.

But as I mentioned,

We can definitely find a role for AI,

Which I think is becoming even more important as we have so many different teachings in Buddhism.

We can find an educational aspect to AI that will complement living,

Real Buddhist teachers,

But not replace them.

And nor will this AI ever replace us as sentient beings,

Because it's not going to be able to achieve,

In the Buddhist context,

The sentience needed for enlightenment.

What do you think about AI?

Do you feel this is pretty right on?

Or do you feel that no,

Actually AI probably could be a Buddha one day?

I think that's,

You know,

A very interesting thing too.

You know,

As we close out this segment,

Could AI become the next Buddha?

Who knows?

But I think that's all speculative at this point.

Our technology is nowhere close,

But I'd like to hear what you think.

You can leave me a comment on Spotify,

Or you can send me a message from my website,

Alanpeto.

Com,

Or on social media.

I look forward to talking with you in our next episode.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thought provoking