Kyoto: A group of researchers in Japan has developed artificial intelligence-powered chatbot “Buddhabot Plus,” which gives answers from the Buddhist perspectives with assistance from OpenAI’s ChatGPT generative AI.

Buddhabot Plus is a remodeled version of the original Buddhabot, developed by the group in March 2021, according to an announcement on Tuesday by the group, including Kyoto University researchers.

While the original version merely provided answers by showing phrases in a major Buddhist scripture obtained through machine learning, Buddhabot Plus can present more appropriate answers and additional explanations made by ChatGPT.

The group has no immediate plan to make the new version available to the public because it still gives false explanations from time to time.

The original version gave answers from about 1,500 kinds of questions and answers from the Sutta Nipata scripture, which includes dialogues between Buddha and disciples. But it could not give explanations, and its answers were sometimes not precise, according to the group.

When asked, “I want to start using social media. What do you think?” Buddhabot Plus shows a phrase from the scripture, “people who stick to nothing and have nothing extra are wonderful.”

ChatGPT adds an explanation, saying “This means each individual is free to decide whether to begin using social media while it is important to have only necessary things and not stick to useless things.”

“More natural conversations have become possible, but challenges remain,” said key group member Seiji Kumagai, associate professor at the Kyoto University Institute for the Future of Human Society. “We hope to improve the reliability of answers by putting more scriptures through machine learning.”

JIJI Press