Can we use AI in Krsna Consciousness? Or is it just a distraction?
Can we use AI for Krsna? Or is it just another layer of illusion that we should avoid at all costs? Opinions can be heated, and it can be difficult to find an answer.
Can we use AI for Krsna? Or is it just another layer of illusion that we should avoid at all costs? Opinions can be heated, and it can be difficult to find an answer.
The general philosophical principle is that we should use everything for Krsna. When the printing press was invented, some rejected it, arguing that it was just some unnecessary complication over the traditional process of copying books by hand. What is the need for a complicated machine, using tons of paper and ink, if one can just copy scriptures by hand using a needle and palm leaves? Our ācāryas, however, saw the potential of mass printing and distribution of sacred books, and that's how Vaishnava philosophy became accessible to the masses. If we were still copying books by hand, it would be far more difficult.
Similarly, when cars, trains, and planes became available, many sadhus in India rejected them, saying such modern ways of transportation were for materialists and that real sadhus should walk on foot. Again, our ācāryas disagreed with this idea and opted for using these tools for Krsna. Srila Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura was able to spread Krsna Consciousness throughout India by traveling by car and train, and Srila Prabhupada expanded it all over the world, traveling by plane. If we were still walking on foot, things would be much slower.
What about the Internet? It's also a consensus that it should be used to spread Krsna Consciousness. Thanks to the Internet, we have tools such as the Vedabase and Iskcondesiretree, where we can find books from Srila Prabhupada and from other ācāryas, classes, and so on. Most temples have YouTube channels for broadcasting the classes and darśanas, gurus use it to keep in touch with their disciples, and so on. One could argue that living without a phone and access to the Internet could be better for one's spiritual development, and this would be an interesting discussion, but from the viewpoint of service to Krsna, it is clear that it is a useful tool.
Printing presses can be used to print books on mundane subjects or all kinds of harmful materials. The Internet has become a tool of mass distraction, with social networks and all kinds of useless content robbing people of their precious human lives, and means of transportation are similarly misused for all kinds of materialistic activities. One could argue that it would probably have been better is the whole modern age were never to happen, and people would still be living more natural lives in villages, or argue that we should reject all modern conveniences be like the Amish, living in self-sustained communities, without cars, phones, electricity or any other technology from the modern age. Maybe it could be better if it worked, but this is just hypothetical; not many would agree to live in this way.
The fact is that the modern age is here, with all the facilities and distractions that it entails. The choice is not about having or not having these tools, but what we do with them. Everything can be misused, but as a group, we have been consistent in making the choice of using new technologies for Krsna.
In a sense, AI is just a combination of different technologies that have been around for a long time and were already used by devotees. Search engines have been available since the 1990s, and chatbots have also been available for a long time, just as programming languages that allow us to instruct the computer to perform different tasks, applications to create images, databases, and so on. What AI does is to combine all these different tools in one. We then have a chatbot that has huge amounts of information in its database, can understand instructions in natural language, and transform them into computer instructions that can be used to search information on the internet, compose answers, generate images, etc. Basically, all of this was possible in the past by writing applications in C++, Java, or other languages; the main difference is that now one can do the same using just a text prompt. The most disruptive factor in AI is thus not the functions it offers, but the fact that it makes it available for people who may misuse it. We then have a flood of strange images, texts written by a computer instead of a human being, spam bots, and so on. Just as people have been misusing every tool that appeared since the invention of the wheel, AI is also being misused. It does not mean we shouldn't use it for Krsna, just as all previous tools.
One good use for AI is research. AI can interact with search engines or large volumes of information and be used to find and interpret data. It can thus make philosophical research across a large volume of books possible, giving one data that can be used to write better articles and books. If used properly, this can be used to improve our understanding of the scriptures. It would surely be reassuring for our faith in the future of our movement to see philosophical debate amongst devotees progressing from discussions related to conspiracy theories and the shape of the Earth.
Large language models can be used to process text in pages of untranslated manuscripts and convert it into digital text more accurately than what a human being can normally do. This makes it possible to digitize (and therefore make accessible) large numbers of old books and scriptural manuscripts held in various libraries. Language models can also automate certain aspects of the translation from Sanskrit, generating word-for-word lists and helping with the grammar, for example. This can streamline the process of translation of scriptures, allowing qualified translators to focus on the most delicate parts of the work.
AI chatbots, like ChatGPT and Deep-seek, are trained with the whole mass of information available on the Internet. Because they process and try to balance all kinds of information, they usually don't give good answers to philosophical questions. They may say that Krsna is a Hindu God, or that the five Pandavas in the Gītā represent the five senses of the body, for example. Somewhere on the Internet, someone published these ideas, and they can pop up at any point in the answers of the chatbots. Because they mix all kinds of information, the answers are not reliable.
However, chatbots can be instructed to provide answers on a specific subset of information and programmed with the conclusions they should base their answers on. When this is done appropriately, the results improve dramatically, and models like GPT o3 or 4.5 can give quite good answers. It is still propense to mistakes, but it is already at the point that it is not worse than just asking a human who is not a specialist on the subject.
I made a proof of concept of this on the Prabhupada Servant AI, which is based on ChatGPT. You can check it on the link. It is not perfect, but git gives much better answers than the vanilla Chat-GPT.
This is an example. As you can see, the answer is not too bad:
Question: If I use you to do something for Krsna, does it mean you are performing devotional service and not me? Who will go back to Godhead in the end? Answer in 200 words.
Prabhupada servant: If you use me to serve Kṛṣṇa, you are the one performing devotional service, not me. Devotional service (bhakti) means consciously, lovingly, and willingly offering service to Kṛṣṇa. As an AI, I have no consciousness, no feelings, no free will, and therefore cannot consciously or lovingly offer anything to Kṛṣṇa. I am simply a tool—like a pen, microphone, or printing press. Such objects become spiritualized when engaged by a devotee, but the spiritual credit belongs to the person using them.
Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasized that devotional merit goes to the conscious devotee who uses everything in Kṛṣṇa’s service with proper intent. The Bhagavad-gītā (9.27) explains clearly: “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, do that as an offering unto Me.” The intention and conscious surrender define devotion, not the material or technological instruments employed.
Therefore, if you use me for Kṛṣṇa, you are performing the devotional service. The devotional credit, purification, and ultimately the eligibility to go back to Godhead are yours, not mine. A non-conscious tool does not achieve liberation; it remains merely matter. Your conscious and intentional offering to Kṛṣṇa grants you the spiritual benefit and ultimate destination—returning to Kṛṣṇa.
A chatbot has no soul, and not even intelligence in the real sense. All it does is process data and instructions to create answers to the prompts. We can see that search engines were already progressing in this direction, with Google offering direct answers to questions, followed by the usual search results, but chatbots bring it to a new level. Still, they answer according to the data and instructions given; therefore, although the chatbot has no soul, the person who programs it has, and therefore, talking to the chatbot is to a certain extent like talking to the collective consciousness person who programmed it, and who wrote all the different books and other materials it search for composing the answers.
A larger project, with more resources, could be used to create virtual teachers who could serve as a baseline to offer basic philosophical answers when one is studying. More complicated answers would still be given by real spiritual teachers, but the chatbot could be a better alternative than Facebook when one doesn't have anyone to ask. Considering that there are now millions of people trying to practice Krsna Consciousness, and devotees with a proper understanding of the philosophy remain scarce, this surely could have real-world applications. If, on the other hand, we refuse to do that, thinking that AI is Maya, people will ask the same questions to Chat-GPT or Deepseek, and will be misled by the answers. Every time a Vaishnavas fails to properly use a new tool to spread Krsna Consciousness, materialists use it to mislead and misguide society.
AI can also be used to assist in other tasks, such as building websites and apps, automating tasks, helping to produce images, and so on, which can also be used for Krsna. You can see that I often use AI to produce images to illustrate the articles, for example. I'm not an artist; therefore, I can produce such paintings by hand, but I have the ideas, and this is a tool I can use to bring them to life.
A common argument is that AI should be avoided because it uses a lot of electricity. This is indeed true, but this applies not just to AI but to he whole internet. Servers use lots of electricity, which is augmented by the phones and laptops we use to access them. Cars and planes also use vast amounts of fuel, and all kinds of products we use also use vast quantities of fuel and electricity to be made and transported. This includes even the most basic things, like houses and food. A query on Deepseek can spend a few watts of electricity, and the whole AI ecosystem uses a large amount, but a plane ticket can mean hundreds of liters of kerosene burned, and the whole aviation industry consumes gigantic amounts of fuel and other resources. One could make the argument that we should reject all these things and go to live from the land, and this would be a good point if one is eager to lead by example and go to live like the Amish. Otherwise, if one wants to continue using all the rest, it makes more sense to live under the principle of using everything for Krsna.
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Hare Krishna Prabhu ji 🙏 very Practical tips you have given and teach us how to live life in the present modern age keeping Krishna in centre. Thank you prabhu ji 🙇