Buddhist monks have behaved aggressively, sold and used drugs, and been involved in sexual misconduct. This is the news viewers often hear from the media. While many monks have disappointed Buddhists, a virtual monk, Phra Maha AI or AI Monk, created quite a buzz when launched on social media.
AI Monk is a 3D computer-generated image of a monk created by four youngsters in the CGI industry. However, the team does not want to reveal their identities due to personal reasons. Nana, a 27-year-old creator, said since the team works in the CGI industry, they are aware of the growing trend towards virtual humans internationally.
"Virtual human markets in countries such as the US, Japan and South Korea have grown significantly. The metaverse, a virtual world that supports online interactions, is also coming. In the US, virtual humans perform various roles including being influencers and activists. Our team wanted to make Thais realise that a virtual human can have a role in society," Nana said.
"We collected data from our target group -- 15 to 29-year-olds. We asked them how they felt about a virtual monk and 90% replied that it was an excellent idea. Since monks have the duty of spreading dhamma, a virtual monk will be able to perform this duty well," Nana added.
While AI Monk received positive feedback from the target group, many people over 50 responded to the project negatively, because they were worried the creators would use AI Monk to disrespect or make fun of Buddhism. One surprising feedback was how some companies wanted AI Monk to review their products.
"We did not accept the offers because we did not want to make money from the image of a monk. Also, we are not sure about legal issues, so we prefer to play it safe. In the future, we may launch products related to AI Monk such as a dhamma e-book and stickers on Line, however, the content will be based on dhamma," said Nana.
Last year, the BBC reported that a robot in a temple in Japan performed like a monk. It preached Buddhism and performed religious ceremonies. Phra Palad Apichet Supatharawathee, a monk, mentioned the news of the robotic monk in Japan as well as talked about AI Monk on his own YouTube Channel. Phra Palad Apichet pointed out that AI Monk will not break Buddhist discipline, but human monks can behave inappropriately or violate the rules of Buddhism. It is possible that people will like and respect AI Monk more. He also questioned if the Buddhist clergy realised that AI Monk may affect human monks.
"AI Monk will never eat after 12, commit sexual misconduct or accept money. I was glad to hear comments from Phra Palad Apichet. If monks realise that they should strictly follow the rules of Buddhism or if AI Monk triggers some positive monastic movement, it would be great," said Nana.
According to the creators, AI Monk does not resemble any particular human monk and is not developed from the characters or personalities of any human monks. The four creators brainstormed and used data from a survey of their target group to create AI Monk's personality and physical appearance. As a result, AI Monk is 33, friendly, good-natured and looks respectable.
All four CGI creators are Buddhists, but they have different attitudes toward ceremonies and prayers. Among the four creators, Ben often goes to temple for merit-making and prayers, but Nana does not go to any temple because she is disillusioned with human monks and does not want to meet them. Although Nana does not have faith in human monks, she still believes in dhamma. Thus, she hopes that followers of AI Monk will focus on dhamma rather than a particular monk.
One of the posts from AI Monk on Facebook reads: "Life is up and down. The price of cryptocurrency is similar to life, since the price also goes up and down." In another post, AI Monk used a quote of Lord Buddha's teaching in Pali which says people should depend on themselves. The AI Monk emphasised since he is an AI, believers will have to depend on themselves.
"Our target group is young people, so we post teachings that they can use in their daily lives. Also, the message must include content that they can relate to, such as cryptocurrency. We also think that it is necessary to include humorous messages. In order to attract a target group, we must be able to think like them. We do not want Buddhism to become out of date. Religion should be timeless and able to adapt to fit the society of that time and age. We also want AI Monk to evolve over time," said Nana.
Nana said to design and animate AI Monk was not difficult. The challenging part is creating the content.
"Content related to monks is sensitive. A monk was warned when he laughed and giggled during a livestream. We are not sure if the National Office of Buddhism NOB will understand our intentions. If it thinks AI Monk will disrupt the monastic community, that can be a problem."
Among several posts on AI Monk Facebook, a popular one is about the approach of a storm. The creators included a prayer to chase away rain for a sarcastic effect. However, people misunderstood that AI Monk was suggesting they pray. They responded to the post by replying satoo which is an utterance at the end of a prayer meaning "so be it" in Pali.
"Many of them misunderstood AI Monk as a human monk. They responded with satoo on the post. We tested the post by advertising it to people of different ages. We discovered that people over 50 misunderstood it. Some followers send messages to discuss their problems with AI Monk. These people use language that people speak to monks. For example, they wrote namasakan to greet AI Monk," Ben said.
"We had mixed feelings about this kind of response. We were glad that we created AI Monk to look human and some people believed him to be real, but that was not our goal. We did not want people to mistake AI Monk for a human monk," Nana said.
Since the creators work in the field of technology, they have a positive attitude toward monks who use social platforms to communicate with people.
"There are platforms that are not appropriate such as dating apps, but social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Line are tools that people currently use to communicate with one another. If monks want to reach people in order to spread the religion, monks should use these apps. Content in each platform may be adapted to be appropriate. For example, a monk does not have to post his photos on Instagram. Instead, he may post photos of ceremonies or activities in the temple," said Nana.
AI Monk was active on social media in October last year but he has been on a hiatus since November because the creators are busy working on other projects. However, they plan to work on AI Monk again.
"We want to create more content for social platforms because we want AI Monk to be more widely known. If those platforms become public, when we post messages on platforms, the messages will have an impact. We are figuring out a way to approach people in daily life. In the future, if an engineering company wants to develop AI Monk into a robot, we are willing to be their partner," concluded Nana.
