AI LITERACY, ETHICS AND DHARMA IN THE LIGHT OF YAJNAVALKYA SMRITI

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly prevalent across all domains, transforming how we live, work, and learn. As a result, there is a growing need for comprehensive AI awareness and education, particularly at the school level. AI literacy is a growing field with theoretical frameworks that emphasize ethical usage as a key component. Yet, the study of ethical and societal consequences of AI is approached predominantly from a western viewpoint, even within India. Often AI ethics is treated as a marketing tactic, and used for the sake of political correctness rather than as a fundamental aspect of AI systems. AI is frequently misused in matters concerning fairness, privacy, and manipulation, and is prone to biases. The focus of this paper is on the dharmic ethical and societal implications of AI. Different aspects of AI ethics are investigated from the perspectives of the nine lakshanas (characteristics) of universal dharma defined in Yajnavalkya Smriti. The paper uses a hermeneutics methodological approach to explore whether Vedic ideas of ethics can be conceptually integrated into school-level AI literacy programs to enhance learning outcomes for societal well-being.