“ One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.”

 -  J. Krishnamurti  

“No computer has ever been designed that is ever aware of what it’s doing; but most of the time, we aren't either.” - Marvin Minsky 

The unprecedented rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and networked digital ecologies in the twenty-first century has initiated a profound re-configuration of the ethical and epistemic foundations of human existence. As algorithmic systems increasingly mediate cognition, emotion, and decision-making, the very categories through which peace and ethics have historically been understood i.e. via agency, intentionality, justice, and moral responsibility– are undergoing radical conceptual revisions. The conference seeks to inhabit and inquire into the interstices of technological, philosophical, and cultural thought, where relationality and sense-making become critical sites for rearticulating the meaning of peace in a computational age. Engaging with Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), Eastern and Western philosophical traditions, the philosophy of mind, and the politics of AI, the conference foregrounds a transdisciplinary dialogue that situates peace and ethics not as static ideals but as dynamic, evolving processes of negotiation between human and non-human entities. 

From the Advaita Vedantic conception of the unity of consciousness and the Buddhist emphasis on dependent origination to the cognitive-phenomenological and neuropsychological explorations of mind; the world’s philosophical inheritances offer plural yet convergent accounts of relational being. In light of AI’s capacity to simulate cognition and to reorganize social and affective infrastructures, these ontological and epistemological frameworks acquire renewed significance. The ethical project today demands more than regulatory or instrumental responses. It requires a rethinking of what it means to know, to act, and to coexist in assemblages of distributed intelligence. Ancient Indian philosophy’s understanding of dharma as situated in ethical action and its non-dual ontology of the self as intersubjective resonance find unexpected affinities with contemporary posthuman and process philosophies that destabilize anthropocentrism and propose relational models of agency. Bringing these discourses into conversation allows us to envision a peace ethic that transcends juridical or utilitarian paradigms, manifesting an ethic attuned to interdependence, cognitive diversity, and ecological awareness.

In an era where information architectures shape perception and algorithmic governance redefines the boundaries of freedom and accountability, the need for a plural, integrative ethical imagination is urgent. The conference aims to bring together philosophers, mediators, social scientists and workers, thinkers and scholars of Philosophy, Psychology, Philosophy of Mind and Technology, Literature, Computer Science, Theology and Theosophy, Social Sciences, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Linguistics and Humanities in general, in order to address collective notions of care, conduct and co-existence. By bridging IKS with contemporary debates in the philosophy of technology and mind, we aim to reorient peace studies toward an epistemology of relational sense-making– where knowledge is both embodied and entangled, where ethics arises from the ongoing negotiation of difference. The Centre for Peace and Ethics in the age of AI thus envisions the conference as a site for cultivating a new language of peace, one that is capable of responding to the ontological fluidity, political asymmetries, and ethical ambiguities of the digital condition. Through this conversation between the ancient and the emergent, between metaphysics and machine learning; the conference aspires to chart un- and under-explored territories toward a more reflective, humane and relationally just future.

Themes and Sub-themes (but not limited to): 

• Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) in the contemporary age

• Eastern Philosophies promoting Ethical Conduct

• Shanti and Dharma Studies

• Theosophy and Peace Studies

• Philosophy of Mind and AI

• Philosophy of Information and Technology

• Peace and Contemporary Geopolitics

• Digital and Data Ethics

• Algorithmic Subjectivization and Subversion

• AI and Humanities

• Posthumanist and Transhumanist Inquiries on Peace and Ethics

• AI Governance and Policy Design

• Literary Composition, Analysis and Reception with AI 

• SciFi Literature and Depictions of AI and Androids

• Speculative Realism and AI 

• Creation and Maintenance of Ethical AI Frameworks

• Chalmers’ Technophilosophy and the Hard Problem of Consciousness

• Neurodivergence and Ethics 

The Conference shall be held in Hybrid mode (both offline and online). 

Abstracts of maximum 400 words to be sent to cpeaai@svu.ac.in by 31st December, 2025 under the subject 'AI and Ethics Conference'. Registration fees to be paid only after the intimation of the acceptance of abstracts.  

Offline Presenters shall be provided with Conference Kit and refreshments for two days of the conference. 

No TA/DA/Accomodation shall be provided for the participants. 

Registration fees for Online Participants (PG Students, Independent Researchers, Research Scholars, Faculty Members): INR 500 

Registration fees for Offline Participants (PG Students, Independent Researchers, Research Scholars, Faculty Members): INR 2000 

Registration fees for Foreign Candidates (PG Students, Independent Researchers, Research Scholars, Faculty Members): INR 2000

Abstract Submission Deadline: 31st December, 2025. 

Notification of Acceptance: 3rd January 2026.

Confirmed List of Speakers:

Prof. Pramod K. Nayar (University of Hyderabad)

Prof. Vinod Kumar Singh (University of Delhi)

Prof. Simi Malhotra (Jamia Millia Islamia)

Prof. Priyanka Tripathi (IIT Patna)

Prof. Jayjit Sarkar (Raiganj University)