XNOVA, a Japanese AI and robotics development company, recently unveiled Buddharoid, a humanoid robot equipped with generative AI trained on Buddhist scriptures. Created in collaboration with Teraverse. and Professor Seiji Kumagai of Kyoto University, the robot generates responses based on users’ questions about Buddhist philosophy and replicates classic religious gestures, such as holding both hands together, bowing, and even sitting in meditative postures.
The project was launched with the purpose of exploring new possibilities for human-AI dialogue, specifically by integrating religious thoughts with artificial intelligence. Buddharoid comes outfitted with a voice and modest robes, making it sound and look more human. If it weren’t for the exposed robot head, some might mistake it for a person altogether.
Buddharoid is also envisioned to provide psychological safety for people who wish to discuss difficult topics face-to-face, allow for more research at the intersection of AI and religious ethics, and address ongoing labor shortages in Japan’s religious sector.
The video above shows an interviewer asking Buddharoid several questions, particularly about their tendency to drink too much. In response, the robot replied with “Avoid harmful things and refrain from drinking. Striving for good deeds is the greatest happiness.'” Another question focused on the interviewer’s tendency to rush into things, to which Buddharoid replied with “It’s important not to rush, but to face each thing one by one and discern what is truly necessary. It would be good to proceed with discernment and sort things out little by little.”
According to Professor Kumagai, via an interview with MBS News (seen in the above video), Buddharoid can be seen as a natural evolution of robots. Since robots are already being used in the caregiving sector, he thinks that they will soon be used in communication-based jobs, such as with parishioners.
Moving forward, XNOVA hopes to advance the societal implementation of “AI with thought” by creating more robots that embody ethical standards. Likewise, the group as a whole wants to add more practical uses for robots and AI in the religious sector, such as dialogue with worshipers.
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