Generative AI, agency, and the imperative of virtuosity: a Buddhist perspective
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
- Venue
- TBC
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
In this talk, Peter Hershock argues that humanity is nearing an evolutionary and ethical tipping point—an existential crisis that is most clearly manifest along the agential frontiers of human-AI interaction.
He will first problematize the individual-biased conceptions of agents and agency that currently dominate in AI discourse and offer an alternative, relational conception of agency based on Buddhist causal and ontological insights.
Hershock will then draw a distinction between tools and technologies to explore the agential tradeoffs occurring along the frontiers of human-AI relations and both critically and creatively interpret these tradeoffs in light of intersections between contemporary evolutionary theory and Buddhist soteriology. He will conclude by outlining an ethics of responsive virtuosity as a Buddhist contribution to the global ethical ecosystem that will be needed for humanity to turn existential crisis into both ethical and evolutionary opportunity.
Sponsor and organiser
This event is organised by the SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies. It is part of the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series in Buddhist Studies, which is kindly sponsored by The Tzu Chi Foundation.
About the speaker
Peter D. Hershock is an intercultural philosopher whose work draws on Buddhist thought to address contemporary global challenges, particularly emerging technologies. A co-founder of the Buddhism & AI Initiative, he is Adjunct Senior Fellow and former Director of the Asian Studies Development Program and Humane AI Initiative at the East-West Center in Honolulu. He also advises AI & Faith and the Union of Italian Buddhist Research Centre. Hershock has authored over fifty articles and chapters, and more than 15 books. His recent publications include Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future (2021) and Consciousness Mattering: A Buddhist Synthesis (2023).
Discussants
Angel González-Ferrer is Director of the Centre for Digital Culture at the Dicastery for Culture and Education in the Vatican. He previously worked in the IT industry as head of product marketing and business development for data connectivity services at Telefónica, where he also held leadership positions in strategy, organisation, and management. He has participated as an expert in EU working groups on telecommunications regulation.
Debora Tonelli is a political philosopher and theologian specialising in Old Testament hermeneutics. Her interdisciplinary research explores the relationship between religion and violence, and the political impact of biblical interpretation. She is Georgetown University Representative in Rome, a Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, and a researcher at FBK-ISR. She teaches at the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo and the Pontifical Gregorian University. Her recent publications include Exiting Violence: The Role of Religion (De Gruyter, 2024), co-edited with G. Mannion, and a chapter in Digitally Divided (Springer, 2026).
Chair
Stefania Travagnin will be the chair for this event.
