"Monk, What Should I Do About My Relationships?" The Monk Who Listened and Prayed Turned Out to Be "Buddharoid"

Kyoto University research team demonstrates AI robot at temple
Scripture-based counseling and full-body gestures such as prayer
First example of a religious humanoid

When someone confided to a monk, saying, "I am struggling with my personal relationships," the reply came back: "Reconsider the distance between you and the other person, and maintain balance in your mind." After finishing the answer, the monk put his hands together in prayer. It was a familiar scene of giving advice on worries, but with one decisive difference: this monk was not a human, but an artificial intelligence (AI) robot.

Buddhist conversational humanoid (human-shaped) AI robot 'Butdaroideu' and Professor Kumagai. Kyodo News, Yonhap News

According to Kyodo News and the Mainichi Shimbun on February 25, a research team led by Professor Seiji Kumagai at Kyoto University in Japan recently unveiled a Buddhist conversational humanoid (human-shaped) AI robot called "Buddharoid" at Shorenin Temple in Kyoto.

Buddharoid is a humanoid robot equipped with "Buddhabot Plus," a generative AI trained on early Buddhist scriptures. Buddhabot Plus is a model developed by Professor Kumagai's team in 2023, with functions that allow it to answer questions by quoting scripture passages and adding explanations. On top of this, the latest ChatGPT technology was integrated to enhance its ability to engage in natural conversation.

During the demonstration that day, when Professor Kumagai himself asked, "I am struggling with my personal relationships," Buddharoid offered advice based on the teachings of the scriptures and then even performed the gesture of putting its hands together in prayer. The explanation was that, going beyond simple voice responses, it was able to reproduce in a relatively natural way key duties characteristic of monks, such as solemn walking, worship, and putting the hands together in prayer.

The body of the robot was built on a product from Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics. The research team combined this with an AI system specialized in Buddhist counseling to create a "religious humanoid." While there have been robots that perform religious functions before, the Mainichi Shimbun reported that this is the first religious AI humanoid to realize both full-body movements similar to a human and natural voice conversations at the same time.

Professor Kumagai, who is also an ordained monk, said, "At a time when temples are decreasing due to population decline, there is a possibility that AI robots could present a new paradigm for religious culture, for example by assisting monks."