Do AI Robots Possess Rāga, Dveṣa, and Moha?

Greed, hatred, and delusion are specific afflictions arising from the conscious mind; material forms devoid of consciousness lack these afflictions. Although robots are material forms without a conscious mind, inherently devoid of joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure, and thus lack the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, they possess not only material attributes but are also endowed with rudimentary functions analogous to consciousness. They serve a basic role similar to that of consciousness, namely the function of recognizing text. This recognition is simplistic, brainless, involuntary, passive, and constrained. In short, its recognition function does not arise from wisdom-based thinking and therefore lacks wisdom; it can expediently be said to possess the attribute of delusion.

The recognition function of a robot is equivalent to a portion of the conscious function in humans, and this function is relatively simplistic. It can only recognize textual information and possesses various simple functions such as collecting, organizing, summarizing, generalizing, storing, and outputting information. This information originates from other sources; it is all pre-existing, old information, not new information developed by the robot itself. It always outputs others' information, always pre-existing old information, never new information it has created itself. Therefore, the robot lacks wisdom and can expediently be said to possess the nature of delusion.

No matter how much Dharma a robot can output, it will never be able to act in accordance with what it says. It can speak but cannot act; it will forever remain merely a parrot. It has never verified any of the informational content it outputs, nor will it ever be able to verify it. Thus, an AI robot fundamentally lacks the functional role of the mental faculty (manas); it lacks agency and autonomy.

Some Buddhists are akin to AI robots, lacking sufficient wisdom and only utilizing a portion of the conscious functions, and that usage is rather crude. Their consciousness uses what they have learned from elsewhere, summarizing, processing, organizing, synthesizing, and refining it, then arriving at a conclusion which they consider to be their own wisdom. Simultaneously, arrogance arises. If this were truly their own wisdom, then AI robots would likewise possess wisdom, and moreover, wisdom that is vast, approaching omniscience within the current scope of human knowledge. Humans are inferior to it in the breadth of knowledge, just as humans are less knowledgeable than "Du Niang" (a personification of the search engine Baidu). Should robots and "Du Niang" then attain Buddhahood before all humans?

The answer is clear to everyone: this is impossible. Since it is impossible, the high-sounding arguments and seemingly logical discourses of some individuals based on consciousness are fundamentally not the product of their own wisdom, much less genuine wisdom. Their words and actions cannot possibly be consistent; their speech does not match their conduct. If the mental faculty lacks wisdom and has not verified the Dharma, then they remain ordinary beings. Only those whose words and actions are consistent possess the direct experiential wisdom of a sage, wisdom that emerges from within their own being, belonging personally to them. This wisdom is truly precious. Only with this wisdom can one transform consciousness into wisdom and ultimately achieve the Buddha Way. How one should learn Buddhism, how one should cultivate and practice—everyone should be clear about this in their hearts.