Guiding AI in Service to All Life

Written by Masaaki Nagai, Guardian of the Kannagara and Executive Director of The Earth Elders

(Dumfries House, the headquarters of The King’s Foundation, AI Summit convened by His Majesty The King featuring Masaaki Nagai. Photography provided by The Kings Foundation)

As artificial intelligence reshapes our world, the need for a wisdom approach becomes urgent. Decisions made today will influence how people learn, work, relate to one another and care for the Earth. The Earth Elders brings a perspective to this conversation: intelligence carries responsibility towards all life. To this end, our Executive Director, Masaaki Nagai attended the AI Summit convened by King Charles III at Dumfries House in Scotland on 17 September. Participants included Jensen Huang from Nvidia, and Demis Hassabis from Google DeepMind, as well as leaders from OpenAI and Anthropic. Facilitated by The Ditchley Foundation, discussions explored shared principles to uphold human dignity and support the flourishing of people and the planet.

(Earth Elders & Child of Humanity Gathering, October Dinner, Hosted by Chair of The Earth Elders Julia Jackson. Photography provided by Julia Jackson)

Masaaki Nagai and Mindahi Bastida also attended an October Dinner hosted by our Chair, Julia Jackson, to deep dive into these prescient issues. The Earth Elders & Child of Humanity gathering invited dialogue between ancestral wisdom and AI, exploring Natural Intelligence in service to all life.  These conversations come at a moment when technological capability is advancing rapidly. The urgency lies in deciding what purposes that power serves, and who shapes those purpose.  Wisdom requires attention to relationships, limits and responsibilities across generations.

(Mindahi Bastida speaking in council with the Kogui Peoples in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Photography by Lucy Martens from the feature-length Documentary Earth Elders, 2027).

A recent message from the spiritual authorities of the Kogui Peoples offers a challenge. Writing from Gonawindua, Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, they ask which human values are being placed inside AI, and who decides. This is important because the Original Peoples’ worldview attributes importance to the originating creative thoughts and intention behind ideas. Their perspective invites those developing technology to examine the consciousness and intentions guiding their work. In fact, all indigenous peoples are now speaking up and voicing their concerns about the development of science and technology, underlining the need for these fields to be guided by ancestral wisdom.  They also remind us that AI has a material body: minerals, water, energy and land. Its development belongs within the web of ecological relationships on which life depends. They ask  humanity to be mindful of the use of such great power without having sufficient awareness or responsibility.

This is a specific Indigenous perspective, rooted in wisdom, language, land, life and spiritual practice. We also ask the AI community to recognise forms of knowledge sustained through generations of relationship with the Earth, handed down from generation to generation through oral tradition. This ancestral wisdom, with its deep reverence for life, rooted in the Original Instructions,  is not being embedded into AI models. AI can be highly intelligent, capable, and efficient, but can it ever become, or aspire to become, truly wise and loving? We must make the distinction between wisdom and intelligence. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts, though wisdom comes from another different type of life-affirming consciousness.  For The Earth Elders, a wisdom approach means making room for indigenous voices wherever technology’s future is being shaped. It means asking whether innovation protects life, strengthens communities and respects the sources that sustain it. What are the creative intentions and wise thoughts guiding the development of AI? 

(Mindahi Bastida speaking in council with the Kogui Peoples in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Photography by Lucy Martens from the feature-length Documentary Earth Elders, 2027).

The opportunity is to bring ancestral understanding into decisions now, while choices remain open. AI’s promise deserves careful stewardship, informed by Elders whose teachings hold responsibility to the Earth and future generations at their heart. The Earth Elders are now gathering messages from indigenous communities from around the world with their recommendations and wisdom concerning AI.  For more information, ways to support or be involved email us at comms@theearthelders.org