AI and the Challenge of Being Human: Kant, Aristotle, and Zen Buddhism

Immanuel Kant noted that I am not enlightened as long as I have a pastor who has a conscience for me, or a doctor who determines my diet. We have to dare to use our own reason he argues. Over two centuries after Kant wrote those words, we seem to use our reason even less, as we are giving the task of thinking to AI. In already turbulent times, AI provides us with some profound challenges. AI tends to systematically draw our attention away from taking responsibility. The consequences are not merely philosophical, but strikes deep into the very beings that we are. They are quite challenging, especially considering that AI is involved in all kinds of moral decisions, which actually turn from ethical into technological decisions. To broach the questions of these challenges I use some sources of the “Western” tradition, as well as some “non-Western” ideas coming from (mostly) Zen Buddhism. Zen Buddhist ethics is particularly potent in this context as it recognizes that certain acts are wrong without immediately blaming individuals. Not the individual, but systems and structures in which the individual finds oneself are blamed. No one is intrinsically bad, but circumstances such as political and economic systems, poor understandings, and false speech might lead someone to act in bad ways. This is not meant as an excuse or a way out but provides a pathway to compassion for those afflicted by those bad actions. It opens the possibility for forgiveness and reconciliation. While the approaches I discuss are different, they provide compatible insights regarding the challenges we face in times of large language models, AI systems (such as in military and automotive industries), election influence and technocratic dominance.