This paper explores the prospect of artificial intelligence (AI) supplementing or supplanting the human teacher in spiritual education using the example of Confucianism. The article compares the role and capabilities of two Confucian teachers: Confucius and an imagined robot teacher (“Digital Confucius”). It is argued in this article that Digital Confucius, if developed, would be useful as an “AI partner” in transmitting the knowledge and skills. As “AI mind”, however, digital Confucius, would be weak in catering its teaching to suit the learner’s profiles and contextual needs as well as serving as an ethical-spiritual guide and role-model to its students. Two major implications are discussed in this paper. First, the study highlights the potential complementary function of AI in the transfer of information and the irreplaceable role of the human teacher in moral education. Secondly, rather than making spirituality redundant, the limitation of AI in Confucian teaching speaks of the continuous relevance and centrality of spiritual development for human beings.

中文翻译：

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数字孔子？探索人工智能在灵性教育中的意义

本文以儒家为例，探讨人工智能（AI）在灵性教育中补充或取代人类教师的前景。文章比较了两位儒家教师的角色和能力：孔子和想象中的机器人教师（“数字孔子”）。本文认为，数字孔子如果得到开发，将成为传播知识和技能的“人工智能伙伴”。然而，作为“人工智能思维”，数字孔子在满足学习者的个性和情境需求以及作为学生的道德精神指南和榜样方面，其教学会很薄弱。本文讨论了两个主要影响。第一的，该研究强调了人工智能在信息传递方面的潜在补充功能以及人类教师在德育中不可替代的作用。其次，人工智能在儒家教学中的局限性并没有使灵性变得多余，而是说明了人类灵性发展的持续相关性和中心性。