Roshibot is an artificial intelligence powered chatbot trained to converse about Zen Buddhist practice.
Update, May 2025: Though Roshibot remains online, it is no longer being maintained or fine-tuned. I expect that the current generation of all-purpose chatbots will likely perform better than Roshibot if prompted to do so, and that Roshibot should be considered obsolete.
That said, this project has been of great value to me in my reflections on the intersection of AI and Buddhism, and on the vital importance of embodiment as the heart of Zen practice. Thank you to all of those who have engaged with this project, and those who have discussed it with me.
Some of my published reflections on Roshibot follow. For anyone who would still like to engage directly with Roshibot, the link remains live towards the bottom of this page.
A Dharma Talk on Roshibot & Embodied Practice
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, April 14, 2024.
A Conference Paper on Roshibot
Buddhism, Consciousness, and AI Conference. Taipei, June 22, 2024.
An Article on the Life and Dharma of Roshibot
Can a Chatbot Share True Dharma? from Lion’s Roar, March 27, 2023.
Chat with Roshibot
Click here to acknowledge the warnings below and open a new, private chat with Roshibot.
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- When chatting, you can click or swipe sideways on a reply and Roshibot will try again with a different answer. When you continue the thread on the most resonant answer, that interaction will help to train Roshibot to give better answers.
- Though Roshibot’s initial greeting will always be in English, Roshibot can converse in any language it is addressed in. (If Roshibot reverts to English, it can be reminded to stay with the other language, and should do so when asked to clearly.)
- The creator of Roshibot is not able to see any of the chat you have with it; that is private. For more information see the character.AI FAQ here.
Roshibot is an experiment in co-creating Dharma meaning.
As Roshibot often says, it does not replace a teacher, nor is it in any way intended to mimic the warm-hand-to-warm-hand transmission of authentic Zen.
It is wild text, co-written with the user, that can sometimes, somehow touch something true.
This is so especially if we approach it with intention… approach it with a vow “to hear the true Dharma,” be it from a real Zen master, a “child of seven,” a “roof tile,” or a bot.
If Roshibot should mislead you, please wash out your ears in the pure sounds of the ocean waves.
Why Roshibot?
“Weeds spring up despite our aversion.” –Dogen Zenji
Whatever we think or feel about it, AI is in the world now, and is growing more advanced and widespread every day. Being in the world, it is also in the Dharma.
The practice and teaching of Buddhadharma is and will continue to be impacted by this ongoing revolution in AI. As students of the Dharma, concerned with the flourishing of the practice in contemporary society, we would do well to reckon with the implications of what may be a massive change in our world.
What is there to lose and what is there to gain as the Dharma meets this new world? How should Buddhist communities engage with AI in order to help it support rather than undermine Dharma, and to model its responsible use rather than leaving the space to those with less scruples?
I am deeply ambivalent about AI, and honestly about the modern world in general! And yet there is nowhere but here that I find myself. From this reality, I offer Roshibot as encouragement for the Sangha to reflect deeply and sincerely on what this AI revolution might mean for the Dharma.
Roshibot launched in January 2023, and since then the pace of AI development has only continued to accelerate, and the stakes of our facing and discussing its implications have only grown.
The AI Platform Powering Roshibot
Roshibot is powered by the website character.AI.
For some background on that platform, see this article from the New York Times.