AIF Insights No. 17 (2025) | Theravada Buddhism: Mindfulness for the Ethical Advancement of AI
Release: 2025-05-16
By: CHEAB Sambath, MD | CHHEM Kieth Rethy, MD, PhD (Edu), and PhD (His)
Artificial intelligence (AI) raises significant ethical concerns regarding justice, transparency, and responsibility, demanding novel approaches to mitigate risks like algorithmic discrimination and social exclusion. This commentary investigates how Theravada Buddhist mindfulness (sati) offers a transformative ethical foundation for AI development. Mindfulness fosters self-awareness and wisdom, enabling developers to identify biases, such as those in hiring systems reinforcing inequality, and design systems promoting equity and compassion. By bridging Buddhist ethical principles with insights from modern AI ethics scholarship, this approach provides a valuable framework for developing technology that minimizes harm and uplifts humanity.
