05.16.2025 AI, VR, and Dharma: Promise & Pitfalls AI: maybe you’re already working harmoniously with it. Maybe you’re uneasy about it — in no rush to help give our “electronic overlords” too much power, like the power to devour energy, or to “replace” you. Maybe, like me, you’re a little of both. And then, when Buddhist teachings are introduced into the artificial intelligence mix, there’s a whole ‘nother set of concerns: how can those who work with the dharma — translators, teachers, and students alike — incorporate AI in ways that cause benefit, help wisdom flourish, don’t compromise the teachings, and minimize harm? Luckily, folks much wiser than I am are already blazing trails for me, and us all, to follow as we try to apply up-to-the-moment technology to the timeless, very human endeavor of living in accord with the dharma. That’s the focus of the latest “Deep Dive” over at Lion’s Roar’s Buddhadharma site, designed to help you deepen your practice and study of Buddhism. As with all of Buddhadharma’s Deep Dives, the idea is to illuminate a given subject from multiple angles. So our “Dharma, AI, and VR” Deep Dive gathers the perspectives of several dharma-and-tech specialists, all helping us to navigate the promise and pitfalls of these technologies as relates to a Buddhist’s spiritual life and community. This Lion’s Roar Weekend Reader highlights three of these here. But there’s plenty more where these came from. (A special shout-out to Buddhadharma’s Mariana Restrepo, who’s done beautiful work pursuing this beat.) And there are plenty more Deep Dives, too, on subjects like Spiritual Friendship, Living Buddhist Ethics, Taking Refuge, and Buddhanature, to name just a few. Thank you for reading, and thank you for your practice. – Rod Meade Sperry, editor, Buddhadharma Exploring AI and Buddhism: A Conversation with Khyentse Vision Project Buddhadharma’s Mariana Restrepo interviews Khyenste Vision Project’s Dolma Gunther, Casey Forgues, and Zack Beer about AI’s impact on Buddhism and its significance for translators and practitioners. Dolma Gunther: As a Vajrayana practitioner, you’re supposed to think that all phenomena is a reflection of the guru, or the deity. AI is no exception to that. So sometimes I start to think about the future and think if we could really have that attitude, and if our aspiration and our pure vision is strong enough, there's no reason why AI can’t manifest as a teacher, or manifest in a way that helps beings get enlightened. That’s what we’re trying to visualize the whole phenomena doing, right? So sometimes I think if we had the right motivation, and the right attitude, why wouldn’t an AI be capable of being inseparable from the mind stream of your teacher? Or a Buddha? Maybe it could really be something that could become inseparable from a wisdom being. I mean, why not? ADVERTISEMENT How AI Really Threatens Us Artificial intelligence doesn’t need a mind of its own to threaten our freedom. All it needs are flawed human minds behind it. That’s why ethical standards are so important, says AI scientist and Buddhist teacher Nikki Mirghafori. All of today’s AI systems, such as virtual assistants, self-driving cars, facial recognition, recommendation engines, IBM Watson, Deep Blue, and AlphaGo, are instances of weak AI. We are far away from strong AI. Even the most optimistic proponents argue that strong AI is decades away, while others conjecture centuries. Many theorize that it is not possible at all, especially the claim that machines can have consciousness. As an AI scientist and a Buddhist teacher, I am in the last camp, together with UC Berkeley philosophy professor John Searle, who writes that computers “have, literally… no intelligence, no motivation, no autonomy, and no agency. We design them to behave as if they had certain sorts of psychology, but there is no psychological reality to the corresponding processes or behavior… The machinery has no beliefs, desires, [or] motivations.” Can a Chatbot Share True Dharma?   Jiryu Mark Rutschman-Byler shares the story of “Roshibot,” an AI bot he created and trained with the teachings of the late Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. As someone who’s spent years digging through and editing unpublished lecture transcripts by the late Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, I wanted to see what an AI-powered bot might do if trained on that great Zen Master’s teachings. How would the AI process and reproduce his words? What would it say? Could a chatbot share true dharma. From these questions, Suzuki Roshibot was born.