JINAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Standing before a virtual image of Confucius, Jonah Dunch posed a question that the ancient Chinese thinker could hardly have imagined: In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), what would he make of the development of society and rapid advance of technology?
Dunch, a Canadian Yenching Scholar from the 2025 cohort at Peking University, was not alone in asking how an ancient intellectual tradition might speak to a fast-changing technological world.
Questions like Dunch's were among those explored as hundreds of guests from around the world gathered for the 12th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations from Sept. 28 to 29, held in the Nishan area of Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, where Confucius is believed to have been born more than 2,500 years ago.
Themed "Civilization, Order and Justice," the forum covered a broad range of issues concerning humanity's future. With AI emerging as a recurring subject, there are queries not only with regard to how technology should be governed, but also what values should guide its development and what place human beings should occupy in an increasingly intelligent physical world.
AI is being integrated into production and everyday life at an unprecedented pace, while posing new challenges for global governance. Some participants said the world is at a critical juncture for building institutions to govern technology, as technological risks rise alongside a growing willingness to cooperate internationally, even amid intensifying competition among major powers.
Xue Lan, dean of the Institute for AI International Governance at Tsinghua University, said global AI governance is being hampered by fragmented mechanisms, diverging approaches among major countries and an inadequate supply of safety governance.
Amid accelerating global changes, rising unilateralism and protectionism, and the intertwining of civilizational divides and technological barriers, how to coexist and how to cooperate have become shared concerns. At Nishan, participants looked to ancient traditions for perspectives on confronting such global challenges.
For Dimitra Amarantidou, associate professor at the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University, the value of the Analects of Confucius, like that of classical texts from other traditions, lies not in providing ready-made answers to today's problems, but in helping people rethink the questions themselves.
"Confucius cannot answer the question of how to regulate AI agents who turn rogue," she said. "He may not have an answer to that question, but I think he can help us reformulate the question and say, for example: What is humanity? What does it mean to be human?"
"His focus is on ren -- on humaneness. So he connects humanity with goodness," Amarantidou said. "He helps us keep that in mind: when we are considering these questions, keep the humans at the center."
The discussion of Confucian thought at Nishan also went beyond AI, touching on how traditional ideas continue to find expression in contemporary concepts and practices.
For Eduardo Daniel Oviedo, principal research fellow at the Argentine National Council for Scientific and Technical Research and professor at the National University of Rosario, understanding China's traditional culture, particularly Confucianism, is important to understanding the ideas behind the country's foreign policy.
"China's four global initiatives, the Belt and Road Initiative and the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity all have certain connections with Confucian thought," said Oviedo.
As participants discussed how to respond to the multiple challenges facing the international community, another theme came repeatedly to the fore: dialogue.
Suos Yara, chairman of the Commission on Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Information of Cambodia's National Assembly, said the Nishan forum provides a platform for turning broad principles of civilization, order and justice into meaningful dialogue and for exploring how people can work together to build a shared future.
Jin Minqing, director of the Institute of Contemporary China Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), called for rejecting notions of civilizational superiority and civilizational conflict, and for respecting the historical traditions, values and development paths of different civilizations.
He also called for following the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in global governance, building consensus on rules through mutual respect among civilizations, upholding the common values of humanity -- peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom -- and promoting a community with a shared future for humanity, as well as common development and lasting peace and prosperity.
The significance of the forum indicates that dialogue lies not in eliminating differences, but in enabling different civilizations to listen to one another. Since it was first held in 2010, the Nishan Forum on World Civilizations has developed into an important platform for implementing the Global Civilization Initiative and promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
"Great civilizations can transcend time and borders and engage in dialogue with all humanity," Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, said in a video address at the opening ceremony, describing Confucius as a thinker who transcends his era.
"The most enduring bridges are not built only with bricks and steel, but with knowledge, friendship and people's hearts," Gilani added. ■
