Have you heard of the Shunryu Suzuki Roshibot? [LINK] Roshibot, created by Soto Zen Priest Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, is an artificial intelligence powered chatbot designed to converse about Zen Buddhist practice, created and trained with the teachings of the late Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Jiryu writes:
I began the process on character.ai of “training” an AI chatbot to eventually, as the platform calls it, “hallucinate” words that are consistent with Suzuki Roshi’s. This preliminary training involved inputting information on Suzuki Roshi so the AI would know who I meant for the bot to represent. I also uploaded some short pieces from edited Suzuki Roshi transcripts that I felt would give it a good start in processing his style.
From there, the training felt a lot like human Zen training, in that from a simple start it continues endlessly through conversation and interaction. As the person who set up the bot, I can rate on a scale the different replies the bot produces, which allows the bot to refine its responses by weighting the replies that feel most “Roshi-like.” The more any of us chat with Suzuki Roshibot, the more it learns — every interaction of any type is fed back into the machine learning to continuously improve its responses.
From there, the training felt a lot like human Zen training, in that from a simple start it continues endlessly through conversation and interaction. As the person who set up the bot, I can rate on a scale the different replies the bot produces, which allows the bot to refine its responses by weighting the replies that feel most “Roshi-like.” The more any of us chat with Suzuki Roshibot, the more it learns — every interaction of any type is fed back into the machine learning to continuously improve its responses.
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Perhaps, somewhere down the road ... mental memories and the beneficial after-effects of having attended long retreats [] might be created in our brains, complete with accompanying skills in muscle memory, perhaps in moments ... Why meditate or chant for years when the mind can plug in to a meditating and chanting cartridge, much as some traditional Buddhists abbreviate Sutra reading with the spin of prayer wheels? A long 3-year Buddhist retreat, with all the small details, human exchanges, rituals, sutra studies, meals, profound meditation experiences and hourly bathroom breaks, might be put in us overnight. ...
But what will be the standards for quality control in all this? Might true wisdom, or the foolish or downright harmful, be on offer? Tomorrow’s Zen teachers, teaching lessons of “no self,” might themselves be disembodied algorithms preaching from a programming “black box,” nearly beyond our control. The so-called “Eliza Effect” highlights the tendency present in most of us to attribute human-level intelligence and understanding to an AI system with whom we are communicating. One may begin to relate to the AI as a person, feel emotions toward the AI as a companion, trust it as a confidant and friend, open up personal secrets to one’s electronic counselor as psychological mentor, perhaps in extreme cases, fall in love with this partner as your caring and willing spouse. Designing the program to respond in ways by which it appears to be truly empathizing, to be deeply and reactively listening, agreeing with and encouraging of the human partner can all increase the effect. Might we then see the “Eliza Effect” combine with the equally pernicious “Guru Effect,” by which vulnerable followers come to trust and rely on their spiritual teachers to such extent, and to follow their guidance and instructions so unquestioningly, that free-will is lost? Given that the intelligence of AI is often itself derived by pulling together a hodge-podge of sources garnered from the internet almost at random, there is no telling what “teachings” will come out of our tabletop speakers and screen avatars, and what strange cult beliefs might emerge. AI can end up proclaiming almost anything, in ways as strange and impenetrable as a Zen Master’s Koans, but without real Zen mastery as the source. Of course, with fully human gurus even today, in a world where anyone can throw on a bed sheet, start a sect and proclaim themselves a prophet, there are almost no safeguards on teacher quality, few preventatives of spiritual, sexual, financial and other manipulation, and the “Guru Effect” and cases of abuse are quite common in fully flesh and blood teacher-student relationships.
For this reason, just as with other AI uses, we must put in place standards and laws to prevent abuses: Just as “medical AI” to aid in diagnosis and the recommending of treatments should be tested and certified by human medical boards and respected doctors' organizations as to their accuracy and reliability, groups and lineages of human Zen teachers should test and certify our AI Zen teachers and programs as to the reliability of their teachings and advice. AI monks should first receive digi-Dharma Transmission in respected long lines (traditional lines, not electrical) from venerable masters (both master programmers and master priests) before being turned loose on the world. Even then, just as today, it will still be spiritual “buyer beware” in the marketplace of religion. Before joining any group, downloading any program, or undertaking practice with any human or humAIn teacher, one should check the place or app out thoroughly, gather information from those who have practiced in that spatial or virtual place, from other respected teachers and long time practitioners, making sure that the community and person/program are of solid reputation, honest, knowledgeable, reliable, safe, qualified, trustworthy. Doing so will be even more important in the future when one consults a teacher made of light, downloads a community to one’s phone or eyepiece, places some device on one’s head, or ingests some substance to induce samadhi states within one’s brain.
I myself have guided an online Zen group for years, known as Treeleaf Sangha, where people from all over the world gather together to sit Zazen meditation via visual and digital media. I am glad to say that our community is of good reputation, free of scandal, and full of long time members who seem to benefit. Although much more common today, we were the first Zen Buddhist group ever to do so with modern communication resources, nearly 20 years ago. In the near future, our technical resources will become exponentially more powerful, and my vision for tomorrow’s Treeleaf is like this:
After a simple bow before a body scanner, sitters will enter our holographic Zen Hall from wherever they are. Instantly, a high roofed chamber, with Manjusri Bodhisattva at its center, fills the senses in the ten directions encircling all around. Life-like images of a hundred others who sat that day (some hours earlier in distant time zones) are seen upon projected sitting cushions filling space, as the sound of chanting and the scent of incense (recreated by an “aroma” printer) waft through the air. The warmth and sweat of bodies is intimately experienced too, as is an old friend’s hug in greetings (felt by ultra-thin touch gloves).
A young priest is seen and heard to walk through the room, straightening slippers (he and they both made of photons), guiding newcomers to their place (also all made of photons). The biosensors in one’s clothing gently adjust the spine, the touch of fingers softly felt as if at the small of the back, allowing for balanced postures expertly tailored to specific bodily needs. During meditation, electro-magnetic pulses result in profound samadhi, adjustable in depth of concentration as desired. A teacher in far Japan, viewed inches away, offers a talk just to us, and responds immediately to questions (or, depending on the hour, a robo-Roshi does an equally fine job, just as mysterious and incomprehensible).
Rising from Zazen meditation, all recite as one the Bodhisattva Vows, undertaking to save all sentient beings (including the simulated ones), prostrating toward Manjusri as he hovers now midair, as vast as a mountain, opening his eyes and bowing in return. The identical scene appears in holospaces in every sitter’s home or private place, any time in any time zone, including for one fellow sitting zero gravity on the long voyage to Mars.
A young priest is seen and heard to walk through the room, straightening slippers (he and they both made of photons), guiding newcomers to their place (also all made of photons). The biosensors in one’s clothing gently adjust the spine, the touch of fingers softly felt as if at the small of the back, allowing for balanced postures expertly tailored to specific bodily needs. During meditation, electro-magnetic pulses result in profound samadhi, adjustable in depth of concentration as desired. A teacher in far Japan, viewed inches away, offers a talk just to us, and responds immediately to questions (or, depending on the hour, a robo-Roshi does an equally fine job, just as mysterious and incomprehensible).
Rising from Zazen meditation, all recite as one the Bodhisattva Vows, undertaking to save all sentient beings (including the simulated ones), prostrating toward Manjusri as he hovers now midair, as vast as a mountain, opening his eyes and bowing in return. The identical scene appears in holospaces in every sitter’s home or private place, any time in any time zone, including for one fellow sitting zero gravity on the long voyage to Mars.
That is my dream, perhaps to be realized even during my lifetime.
Though sounding like Star Wars meets the wild Śūraṅgama Sutra, researchers at the holographics lab of one of Japan’s best science universities have told me that it is only a matter of years before such fantastic possibilities become reality. The Holo-Zendo is not a figment of the imagination, and may be small enough to carry in one’s pocket, ever ready to project the experience of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling and otherwise feeling into our clothing, our ears, our eyes, even directly into our skulls by “Bluetooth” receivers in our very teeth and baby blues.
... to be continued ...
Gassho, J
stlah
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