As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, technology companies are increasingly looking beyond engineering and computer science to answer a difficult question: How should AI decide what is right and wrong? In a notable example of this trend, AI company Anthropic, the creator of the Claude chatbot, invited Swami Sarvapriyananda, a monk from the Vedanta Society of New York, to its San Francisco headquarters for discussions on AI, ethics and morality.
According to reports, the conversations focused on how philosophical and spiritual traditions can contribute to the development of advanced AI systems. Anthropic has been exploring ways to make AI models safer, more aligned with human values and better equipped to handle complex moral questions. Company researchers are increasingly interested in perspectives that have examined ethics and human behaviour for centuries.
The discussions reportedly examined questions that traditional science and engineering alone cannot easily answer. For example: What should an AI system consider right or wrong? How should a machine respond when different moral values conflict? Could an advanced AI ever develop some form of consciousness, or should it be treated purely as a tool?
Swami Sarvapriyananda was not invited as a technical expert but as a representative of a philosophical tradition that explores human consciousness, self-awareness, responsibility and ethics. Vedanta, one of the major schools of Hindu philosophy, has long examined questions about the nature of intelligence, decision-making and moral responsibility.
The meeting was conducted under a non-disclosure agreement, limiting what participants can publicly discuss. However, reports suggest Anthropic has also engaged with thinkers from other religious and philosophical traditions as part of a broader effort to understand how humanity’s ethical frameworks could help guide future AI development.
The initiative highlights a growing belief within the technology industry that building powerful AI is not only a technical challenge but also a philosophical one. As AI systems become increasingly capable, companies are looking to philosophy, religion and ethics for guidance on how these systems should behave and what values they should reflect.