Words of Wisdom for August 14, 2026

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.”

– Nikki Mirghafori, Lion’s Roar

May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering!

All my best,

–Jerome