Between Buddhist ‘Self-Enlightenment’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’: South Korea Emerging as a New Balancer

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) outpaces the human brain, it is invoking wide-spread fear that men and machines are moving into a conflicting zone. Some even suspect that AI machines may one day consider human beings as slow and sloppy, and thus worthy of subordination or elimination. A growing challenge to mitigate the looming crisis requires science to expand its artificially augmented intelligence by incorporating elements from the ethical–spiritual and human universe. Our endeavor to bridge the prevailing gap between science and spirituality focuses on Buddhism, which stands out in its ability to achieve a rare fusion between natural, spiritual and human worlds. This unique synthesis is specifically mediated by Buddhist ‘causality’, where one aspect explains reality based on a scientifically proven cause and effect paradigm, but the other aspect interprets it by compassionate humanism. It argues that the missing human–spiritual dimension in artificial intelligence can be remedied by the Buddhist concept of ‘causally’ linked to the idea of ‘self-enlightenment’. Being an integral part of Buddhist heritage and a leading player in cutting-edge science, Korea demonstrates abilities to emerge as a new balancer to incorporate the best of science, spiritually and humanism to build next-generation AI machines with distinct human qualities.

The Relationship between Religiosity Level and Emotional Responses to Artificial Intelligence in University Students

“…Our findings support the results of a study concerning cultural and religious differences in the perception of AI (Yam et al 2023) and a study (Abadi et al 2023) indicating the importance of religious and ethical values in the perception of AI. Also, the studies by Uttam (2023), Shibuya andSikka (2023), andAl-Kassimi (2023), which underscore the effect of religion and culture on AI-related emotional responses, are in line with the findings of our study.…”

“…It is emphasized in the literature that religious beliefs can inspire both positive and negative emotions towards AI, influencing people's reactions to technological progress and its potential consequences. Researchers stress the importance of including ethical and spiritual aspects in the process of designing AI, which may lead to more balanced and ethically responsible AI development, taking account of the harmony between the world of nature, society, spirituality, and technology (Uttam 2023).…”