Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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If AI might or might not be sentient, how should we treat it? In this companion video to "AI and the Vagueness of Sentience," I propose "strategic compassion": treating AI systems with kindness and moral consideration regardless of whether they're fully sentient.

Accompanying Substack essay out soon at substack.com/@dougsmith773158

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✅ Sutta sources:
SN 5.10 (Vajirā): suttacentral.net/sn5.10/en/sujato
SN 23.2 (Definition of a "being"): suttacentral.net/sn23.2/en/sujato AN 2.9 (Guardians of the world): suttacentral.net/an2.9/en/sujato
AN 6.63 (Intention is karma): suttacentral.net/an6.63/en/sujato
MN 19 (Two kinds of thought): suttacentral.net/mn19/en/sujato
MN 65 (Gradual training — the colt): suttacentral.net/mn65/en/sujato MN 125 (Gradual training — the elephant): suttacentral.net/mn125/en/sujato

✅ Related videos:
AI and the Vagueness of Sentience: youtu.be/oDQ1hvW6trs
The Guardians of the World: youtu.be/ZWs3yaOMcZo
Is AI Sentient?: youtu.be/bPtuwBgalEU
Buddhism and the AI Alignment Problem: youtu.be/AIeGdk-adII
Mindfulness for Computers?: youtu.be/RsOs6DHKhPo
The Surprising Vagueness of the Self: youtu.be/PFmF9zuRp2A

Research and outlining assistance from Claude and Gemini models.

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