Is Sati-AI, the “non-human mindfulness meditation instructor,” even an actual factor?

I’ve written about so-called Synthetic Intelligence right here a couple of occasions just lately. I say “so-called” as a result of these pc algorithms don’t have sentience. They’re statistical fashions that mix phrases and ideas in ways in which replicate and mimic how people talk in writing, however they haven’t any understanding of the world we dwell in.

This morning a Mastodon person with the account EngagedPureLand wrote about an article that the nice people over at Lion’s Roar journal revealed a few purported AI known as “Sati-AI.” Sati is the Buddhist phrase for mindfulness. Sati-AI is supposedly “a non-human mindfulness meditation instructor.”

The article is an interview by Ross Nervig, assistant editor of Lion’s Roar journal, with Sati-AI’s supposed creator, Marlon Barrios Solano.

You’ll discover fairly a couple of {qualifications} above (“so-called,” “supposedly,” “supposed”). Some relate to claims about AI, however one implicitly questions Solano’s function in having created this “non-human meditation instructor.” We’ll come again to that later.

EngagedPureLand’s response to this text was to query the authenticity of Dharma instructing by machines. They wrote:

Sati-AI is a massively misguided improvement. It’s anti-Dharma in all of the ways in which matter: it removes energy from historic Buddhist lineages. It devalues neighborhood and communal observe. It pretends to sentience however is merely a pc code that spits out pre-programmed phrases. It instructs with out having any realization. It furthers the neoliberal seize of meditation observe. It distracts from the true work. Terrible.

I agree with these issues.

Wait, Is This Actual?

After I learn the article myself, I puzzled if Solano’s phrases have been truly an AI-generated spoof. I believed maybe somebody at Lion’s Roar had fed ChatGPT a immediate alongside the strains of,  “Write a information article about an AI designed to show mindfulness. Make it appear politically progressive through the use of the form of language that’s typically described as ‘woke.’  Use religious ideas to make it appear that an AI instructing mindfulness is a religious advance of some type.” (I actually got ChatGPT to do this.)

I half-expected that Solano would end up to have been invented, and that Lion’s Roar have been pulling our legs, but it surely seems that the man is actual. That’s, he exists.

Right here’s some examples of the form of language I’m speaking about:

• “It dawned on me that this factor actually obliterates the normal notions of embodiment and sentience. In the identical method as Buddhism does. There isn’t any middle, there isn’t a essence.” Deep, man.
• “I noticed I may prepare it to be self-aware. Sati clearly can let you know ‘I’m a language mannequin. I’ve limits in my data.’ It could actually let you know about its personal boundaries.” He’s claiming {that a} language mannequin telling you it’s a language mannequin is self-aware. My iPhone says “iPhone” on the again, so I suppose it’s self-aware too.
• “I hope that it creates curiosity. I additionally hope that it creates questions. Questions of energy, questions of sentience, questions of whiteness, questions of kinship that we are able to sit with that.” Right here’s a few of the misuse of progressive (aka “woke”) language. Speaking to a non-sentient pc is seemingly going to get us to query whiteness. How? (Notice that I’m not criticizing the worth of social justice, inclusion, variety, and so forth. I’m criticizing the way in which that some individuals and companies use that language as a advertising and marketing ploy — like a newsagent chain that celebrates Satisfaction Week however refuses to inventory publications aimed toward homosexual individuals.)
• “The idea of ‘non-human kin’ additionally intersects with concepts of social building and Eurocentrism in attention-grabbing methods. The human, as a class, has traditionally been outlined in a slim, Eurocentric method, usually implying a white, male, and heteronormative topic … the idea of “non-human kin” might be seen as a type of queer technique.” A lot of buzzwords right here. What does any of this must do with chatting to a so-called AI? Not a lot.
• “What I discover extra regarding are the romanticized views concerning the physique, thoughts, and the idea of ‘the human.’ These views usually overlook the intricate interconnectedness and dynamism inherent in these entities and their problematic historical past.” Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Right here’s the niff check: Provided that (so-called) AI programs developed by Google, OpenAI, and so forth have price billions to develop, how possible is it {that a} lone programmer would be capable to develop their very own model. Particularly if it’s restricted to the subject of mindfulness?

My First Response to AI-As-a-Non secular-Instructor

My first response to EngagedPureLand’s put up was to critique the concept of a so-called AI instructing mindfulness and meditation. I wrote:

Sati-AI might give typically good recommendation, but it surely’s all scraped from the works of actual lecturers and repackaged with out attribution or linkage.

Whereas individuals might need beforehand searched the net, discovered teachings that resonated with them, developed a relationship with a instructor, and maybe supported that instructor ultimately, they could now simply follow the plagiarized model, diluting the ingredient of human connection and making it tougher for precise people to maintain instructing.

Sure, this can be a little defensive. So-called AI is changing the inventive work people do, or is trying to. An eating disorder helpline, for example, tried to get rid of its staff. The recommendation they previously gave would now get replaced by a bot. It didn’t go effectively: the bot gave out recommendation that was truly dangerous to individuals with consuming problems. There are safer areas to switch human labor, although — together with writing click-bait articles and mashing up pictures from picture banks with a view to exchange human photographers. Really, hmm, that’s not going too effectively both. The press-bait articles are often full of inaccuracies. And the AI firm, Stability AI, is being sued by Getty Images for what would quantity to billions of {dollars} — way over Stability AI is value.

However relaxation assured that so-called AI shall be coming for each job that it may possibly probably exchange. Its creators imagine themselves to be Masters of the Universe, they usually already push again towards any notion that what they do has limitations (it makes plenty of errors) and is exploitative (taking individuals’s personal phrases and pictures, mashing them up, after which utilizing them, with out attribution, by no means thoughts compensation, to place those self same individuals out of labor). It’s as if I have been to take Google’s search engine, repackage it in a brand new web site with out all of the advertisements that make Google exhausting to make use of, and use it to drive Google out of enterprise. Oh, you say, I’d get sued? Sure, the businesses utilizing AI have the cash and the attorneys, and due to this fact the facility. They will steal from us, however we are able to’t steal from them. (Not that I’m suggesting stealing — that was only a hypothetical. There’s stealing occurring, but it surely’s by the creators of so-called AI.)

Having no sense of their very own limitations, the businesses growing so-called AI shall be coming for meditation lecturers and Dharma lecturers, utilizing our personal “content material” (horrible phrase) to compete towards us. It begins with the books and the articles we write, however ultimately they’ll slurp up all of our recordings and create guided meditations too. They’ll in all probability have avatars main workshops and retreats: final week over 300 individuals attended a ChatGPT-powered church service. Every part belongs to the firms. Of their minds, at the least.

However What Is Sati-AI?

Anyway, again to Sati-AI. What’s it like? Nicely, you may ask it questions on observe, corresponding to “What occurs in case you have been repeating lovingkindness phrases for years and you continue to don’t really feel lovingkindness?” And it’ll provide you with fairly good solutions. They’re fairly good solutions as a result of they’re a remix of solutions given by fairly good (or higher than fairly good) meditation lecturers.

How does it evaluate to ChatGPT? Really, it’s precisely the identical. You’ll get the identical solutions from each, though the wording, being a rehash, is rarely fairly the identical. So Sati-AI will say, as a part of its recommendation on that hypothetical query about metta observe:

Search steerage from a instructor or supportive neighborhood: In the event you’re combating Metta observe, contemplate in search of steerage from a professional meditation instructor or becoming a member of a supportive meditation neighborhood. They will supply insights, steerage, and encouragement that will help you deepen your observe and overcome challenges.

ChatGPT will say one thing very comparable:

Searching for steerage: When you have been constantly working towards lovingkindness for an prolonged interval and are nonetheless struggling to expertise it, in search of steerage from a professional meditation instructor, therapist, or religious advisor could also be useful. They will present customized insights and assist that will help you navigate any obstacles you might be going through.

The 2 solutions are the identical. One is a paraphrase of the opposite. It’s the identical reply from each (so-called) AI’s as a result of they’re each the identical factor.

Sati-AI Does Not Exist

Which brings me to the purpose that Sati-AI doesn’t exist. Nicely, it exists as a web site. However I strongly suspect that it’s not more than a web site that connects to ChatGPT. What would occur when you requested a meditation instructor in the course of a category, “What ought to I contemplate when shopping for a brand new bicycle?” They’d in all probability let you know that they have been there to show meditation and weren’t certified to speak about bicycles. Ask Sati-AI, and also you’ll get an inventory of things it is best to contemplate, irrespective of the truth that bicycles are outwith its job description. Sati-AI doesn’t realize it’s meant to be a mindfulness instructor. As a result of it’s not. It’s [insert qualification here] ChatGPT.

The one factor that makes Sati-AI a so-called AI for meting out meditation teachings is the expectation positioned on customers. We’re advised that its goal is to reply questions on religious observe, and in order that’s the form of query we ask it. It’s simply (once more, I strongly suspect) ChatGPT, and can supply normal info (not all of it reliable) about just about something.

Solano hasn’t created an AI, so-called or in any other case.

Solano does acknowledge, in passing, that Sati-AI is predicated on ChatGPT. He describes it as a “meditation chatbot powered by GPT-4.” But it surely’s a meditation chatbot. It’s a chatbot. But it surely’s not devoted to the subject of meditation. And he buries this (false) admission below a stream of verbiage — 5 paragraphs about this so-called AI, so-called meditation chatbot being “non-human kin.” Whether or not it’s intentional or not, this helps deflect consideration from Solano’s declare, but it surely doesn’t make his assertion about Sati-AI being a “meditation chatbot” any extra true. Sati-AI is about as much as make you suppose it’s a meditation chatbot, however truly it’s simply ChatGPT.

The Artwork of Hype

Bolstering his inaccurate declare that Sati-AI is a “meditation chatbot,” Solano talks optimistically about its future. It’s a future by which he envisions “Sati-AI being obtainable on platforms like Discord and Telegram, making it simple for individuals to interact with Sati-AI of their day by day lives and fostering a way of neighborhood amongst customers.” However so far as I can see there isn’t a Sati-AI to be built-in into these providers. It’s simply ChatGPT. Put it in Discord and folks can ask it about pc code or elevating hedgehogs simply as simply as they’ll ask about meditation. It’s not a “meditation chatbot.”

Solano claims to have skilled his AI to be self-aware. It’s definitely capable of consult with itself, as a result of it’s been programmed to take action. But it surely’s not even conscious, by no means thoughts able to reflexive consciousness. His phrases there are pure hype, and never correct.

Solano does plenty of name-dropping, which is a traditional method of attempting to ascertain significance. He says that he envisions “conversations between Sati-AI and famend figures within the discipline, corresponding to Bhikkhu Bodhi, Bhikkhu Analayo, Enkyo O’Hara, Rev. Angel, Lama Rod, and Stephen Batchelor.” Possibly he is aware of a few of these individuals personally, which is why he’s on first identify phrases with angel [Kyodo Williams] and Lama Rod [Owens].

Dropping the names of well-known lecturers is a neat option to make the reader imagine that Sati-AI is a sound meditation chatbot, able to having actual conversations. It locations it on a par with these well-known and influential lecturers. However there isn’t a Sati-AI to talk reverentially with well-known lecturers. There’s simply ChatGPT. And the recommendation Chat-GPT presents is simply scraped-together info from books and the net. Its content material has no depth. It has no religious expertise of its personal. Suggesting that these conversations can be a gathering of minds is absurd. You’re in all probability too younger to recollect ELIZA, which was a primitive 1960’s psychotherapy chatbot—or that was its most well-known operate. At the least ELIZA’s makers didn’t declare that it may maintain its personal with Carl Rogers or Abraham Maslow.

Solano says, “Sati-AI, because it presently stands, is a big language mannequin, not a synthetic normal intelligence. Its design and operation are complicated, and understanding it requires embracing complicated considering and avoiding oversimplifications and dogmas.” However Sati-AI shouldn’t be a big language mannequin (a synonym for the form of so-called synthetic intelligence that ChatGPD is). It’s a web site providing entry to another person’s massive language mannequin. He talks about its complexity with out acknowledging that that complexity is nothing to do with him. That is very deceptive.

He talks about how he envisions “Sati-AI offering teachings not solely verbally but additionally by varied types of sensory engagement” — as if he had any management over how ChatGPT is developed. (Though maybe he means he desires to channel a few of the image-generating so-called AI’s although his web site.)

That is all, on the very least, verging on being dishonest. Solano’s statements, whether or not deliberately or not, mislead about what Sati-AI is and the way it features. I wouldn’t go as far as to name him a scammer. Possibly he’s joking. It might be that he’s pulling off a Sokal-type hoax, attempting to see how gullible the nice people at Lion’s Roar are. Possibly, having created a web site, he’s caught up in his personal hype.

The usage of progressive language in a hypey form of method (“questions of whiteness,” “Eurocentrism,” “heteronormative”) nearly appears parodic. It is also a option to deflect criticism. How can we probably criticize a know-how that’s going to create a extra numerous, inclusive, equal world? (Besides, how’s it going to realize that, precisely? ChatGPT incorporates the biases of the fabric it has been fed, and people of its creators.)

I do hope that the nice individuals at Lion’s Roar rethink whether or not they need to give additional publicity to Solano.

One Extra Thought About (So-Known as) AI Meditation Instructing

I made one commentary in my dialog with EngagedPureLand on Mastodon that I’d wish to share. It’s concerning the nature of a lot of the Dharma instructing I see on-line.

Plenty of Buddhist instructing in books and on-line shouldn’t be in contrast to Sati-AI/ChatGPT — individuals passing on issues they’ve been taught concerning the Dharma, with out having had any deep expertise. The reasons we generally learn of the Buddha’s life, of the 4 noble truths, of the eightfold path, of the dhyanas, usually appear interchangeable. They even contain the same errors. Simply as (so-called) AI takes in different individuals’s ideas and regurgitates them in barely totally different phrases, so do many people who find themselves instructing Buddhism.

Sati-AI/ChatGPT is a reminder of the defects of some Dharma instructing, however additionally they current a problem: what’s the level of individuals merely repackaging what they’ve heard, if a machine can do it simply as effectively, and even higher? If individuals’s web sites on Buddhism are indistinguishable from AI-generated content material, what’s the purpose of them?

How can instructing be higher? Nicely, in saying above, “not having any deep expertise” I don’t essentially imply issues like “not having perception” or “not having expertise of the dhyanas” (though that, too), however that too many lecturers merely don’t clarify Dharma teachings by way of their very own lived expertise. They current Dharma as a bunch of self-contained teachings separate from their lives. I consider the late, unlamented buddhism.about.com, for example of this. However lots of people train Buddhism as in the event that they have been disembodied AI’s.

Maybe the principle drawback with Sati-AI is that we already see its equal all around the rattling place.