Overview

Ani Choyang, Robert Cummings, and Chiara Mascarello, with Marieke van Vugt as facilitator, explored the implications of artificial intelligence for education, arguing that AI should complement rather than replace human teaching. Participants examined opportunities for personalized learning, cognitive tutoring, and improved educational access while warning that excessive reliance on AI may diminish critical thinking, creativity, embodied learning, and meaningful social interaction. Drawing on cognitive science, philosophy, Buddhist perspectives, and educational research, participants emphasized the importance of moral education, compassion, curiosity, and productive intellectual struggle. The discussion concluded that education should cultivate reflective, ethically responsible individuals capable of engaging critically with AI while preserving human relationships and lifelong learning.

Dialogue 39
7 sessions
October 16, 2025
Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India
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Speakers

Ani Choyang was born in Tibet and escaped to India at age 18. She became a nun in 2003 under the guidance of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. She received the Rajamma Degree (similar to a Master’s degree) in 2022 after completing a 17-year course of Buddhist studies. She is in the Second year of Geshema program (equivalent to PhD). Additionally, she is a Tenzin Gyatso Science Scholar and was one of the first Tibetan nuns to attend a two-year science-training program at Emory University as part of the Emory Tibet Science Initiative. Ani Choyang also participated in a science research internship at Northwestern University in 2022, where she received in-depth training in the theory and methods of neuroscience. Currently, Ani Choyang serves as the Project Coordinator of Center for Buddhist Philosophy and Science at Jan Chub Choeling Nunnery in Mundgod, South India. She also serves as a core committee member of the Tenzin Gyatso Science Association.

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Chiara Mascarello holds a research grant at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where she also teaches Tibetan language. She serves on the board of the Contemplative Studies Program at the University of Padua and co-directs the Italian Buddhist Union Research Center. Chiara is a member of the Steering Committee of the Contemplative Education Network. She pursued further studies at Sera Monastic University, the UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies, and the University of Hamburg, and has also worked as a Tibetan translator.

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Marieke van Vugt is an associate professor in the Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Groningen. Her research aims to understand how, when, and why we mind-wander, when it is adaptive and when it is maladaptive, and how contemplative practices may help. In addition, she collaborates with Tibetan monks and nuns on investigating analytical meditation and monastic debate. Apart from this, she is an avid practitioner of classical ballet.

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Dr. Robert E. Cummings serves as Executive Director of Academic Innovation, Director of the Digital Media Studies Interdisciplinary Minor, and Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Mississippi. His research focuses on digital writing. His approach to digital writing is interdisciplinary, but centers the human role in human-computer interactions that produce writing. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Wiki Education Foundation since its inception in 2013.

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