AI and religion: Are AI chatbots conscious?

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court asked the Central government to issue a clear public protocol to curb malpractice in stem cell therapy for autism spectrum disorder. This follows a judgement given in January this year following a petition that raised concerns about the commercial promotion and administration of stem cell “therapy” for autism. The court examined the scientific and regulatory position and held that, given the evidence available at present, stem cell therapy for ASD could not be offered by medical practitioners as a clinical service outside an approved and monitored clinical trial or research setting. The Health Ministry’s current approved list covers 18 adult and 14 paediatric indications. Autism is not on this list. What are the implications of the Supreme Court order, and why was it necessary? Is stem cell therapy something that is being researched for autism abroad and in India and should this continue? Why is the prevalence of autism believed to be increasing and what should we know about it? Guest: Dr. Ennapadam S. Krishnamoorthy, neuropsychiatrist and founder, Buddhi Clinic, Chennai Host: Zubeda Hamid Producer: Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Europe is seeing a wave of protests against economic inequalities and poor living standards. The immediate causes vary across countries, from the housing crisis in Spain and issues with the education system in France to public anger over perceived corruption in Serbia and Albania. But one thing is common: youth at the vanguard. Europe always had space for democratic dissent and has seen major protests to influence state systems and public policy. But with more and more youth taking the streets across the continent and beyond, are these protests merely reactionary, or is there a generational, existential anxiety at play? Are youth worried they will be worse off than their parents? Here, we discuss. Guests: Gilles Verniers and Rohit Azad Host: Vighnesh P. Venkitesh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May, Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), on safeguarding human dignity in the age of AI. He later shared on social media that he believes human-created art cannot be replaced by machine-generated art. Earlier, AI firm Anthropic, per a New York Times report published in September, had invited religious thinkers, priests, monks, rabbis, and scholars from across the world, trying to sway their views on Claude, the company’s AI chatbot. As religious leaders clarify the role of technology to their laity, tech billionaires are reaching out to religious experts to try to better understand morality, ethical decision-making, and philosophy. At the heart of this debate is the question of whether AI chatbots are conscious or not, even as Claude-maker Anthropic plays a key role in lobbying spiritual leaders. Should we treat these conversations as a performance for customers? Are tech leaders perhaps building up hype before key IPOs? Or, to put it bluntly: are tech leaders using religion to distract users from more pressing regulatory worries? Host: Sahana Venugopal Guest: John Xavier Camera: Shivaraj Producer: Shiksha Jural Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court, in a judgement on October 15th, declared that a Hindu who converts to a “non-Hindu” social order cannot claim the benefits of reservation. It reasoned that backwardness can’t be transferred automatically from the Hindu social order to a non-Hindu one after conversion. The judgement came in a case where a Hindu OBC man who had converted to Islam wanted to avail reservation benefits as a Muslim OBC. Following the judgement, DMK president and former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin urged the Tamil Nadu government to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to protect the reservation rights of members of Backward Classes (BC) who had converted to Islam. “Social backwardness does not arise in a day or a generation. It is the result of a social system built over thousands of years. Conversion to another religion does not erase it,” he said in a statement. So, how sociologically grounded is this judgement? What about the impact of a lifetime of ‘backwardness’-related disadvantages that shape a Hindu OBC’s life until the point of conversion? Can that be disregarded? Critically, religion was never a criterion in determining OBC status – so, can reservation benefit be denied due to a change in the person’s religion? Guest: Abhinay Lakshman from The Hindu’s Delhi Bureau Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Producer & Editor: Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The death by suicide of Sahil Wakode, a second year B.Tech student at IIT, Bombay, has sparked protests, allegations of caste discrimination, and demands for institutional reforms. Between the years 2020-21 and 2024-25, IITs reported 45 student suicides, of which 28, or 62%, were from SC/ST or OBC communities. There is a tendency to assume that India’s premier educational institutions such as the IITs are islands of ‘merit’, where everyone is treated solely on the basis of their capabilities. Why then, do we keep getting reports of SC/ST students dying by suicide in some of India’s most prestigious institutions? Who should be held accountable for caste discrimination in a campus setting? What’s the remedy? Guest: Professor N Sukumar, Department of Political Science at Delhi University Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Producer & editor: Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As José Mourinho's Real Madrid returns to the Camp Nou to face Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, we look at the history, identity and drama behind the Clásico Real Madrid and Barcelona share one of football’s fiercest rivalries, shaped by history, politics, regional identity and contrasting ideas of how the game should be played. From the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the present-day battle between Hansi Flick and José Mourinho, El Clásico has continued to capture the imagination of fans around the world. On this episode of In Focus, we examine what makes this fixture a global phenomenon, how Barcelona’s Cruyff-inspired philosophy has evolved under Flick, and whether Mourinho can find a way to counter Barcelona’s attacking game. Beyond the result, what does El Clásico tell us about the identities and ambitions of these two footballing giants? Guest: Srinivasan Ramani, The Hindu’s Deputy National Editor Host: Reuben Joe Joseph Producer: Shiksha Jural Video: Shivaraj S Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tamil Nadu recently went through a game-changing election that threw up a surprise. The TVK won largely on the strength of its appeal among young people; the younger the people were greater was their enthusiasm for the TVK and Vijay, the current chief minister. Many older voters were telling journalists that their sons, daughters and grandchildren were telling them to vote for Vijay.  Recently, a DMK candidate who lost in Salem North went to court, arguing that Vijay had appealed to children to persuade their parents to vote for the TVK, and that this was wrong. The High Court dismissed the petition but made some very caustic, very critical remarks about the trend. Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy said that the entire act of involving tender children in elections “is in bad taste, and the tasks they are made to perform at home for making YouTube reels reflect poor parenting besides being a cheap and politically motivated act.” He said that it was for Parliament to consider whether such acts should be made a ground for setting aside the election of candidates. Should children be involved in political campaigning? Here, we discuss. Guests: Andrew Sesuraj M., child rights activist, Chennai; Dr. Anil Pillai, behavioural scientist Host: M. Kalyanaraman (host) Producer: Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to an American duo – Prof Robert Hall of Stanford University and Prof Michael Woodford of Columbia University – "for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation”. Both Prof Hall and Prof Woodford were part of a new crop of economists who studied the economy not as a monolith, but also as a collection of many of microeconomic decisions. Simply put, their work helped change how economists understand the economy: not just through a broad set of indicators such as inflation, output and consumption, but by examining how businesses and consumers make decisions, and how these decisions affect the economy as a whole. Their studies look at how the future plays a part in today’s economy. To help us understand what they studied and how it can be applied today, I have with me Dr. Partha Chatterjee, Dean of Academics & Professor of Economics, Shiv Nadar University Host: Nivedita Varadarajan Producer: Shiksha Jural Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indian cities have undergone rapid urbanisation over the past few decades. Yet, accessibility continues to evade the design and planning priorities. Despite the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, mandating accessibility in public buildings across the country, Indian cities need to go a long way when it comes to inclusive public spaces, transport and other infrastructure. Several pertinent questions remain – how many barriers must a person with physical or intellectual disability navigate to get from point A to point B? Have the efforts towards inclusivity been centred around a narrow understanding of disability? How do we make cities in India answerable for accessibility? Guests: Nivedita Krishna, founder of Pacta, a law firm and think tank focusing exclusively on the legal needs of social sector, and Bhumika Modh, who heads the Yes to Access initiative of the Association of People with disability, share their insights. Host: Elizabeth Shilpa Abraham Producer: Shiksha Jural Video: Ravichandran N Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month, a word that has not been in the news for decades perhaps, suddenly erupted: the death of a lab worker in Siberia, sparked concerns, rumours online and theories as to what really happened, given that official information coming out was limited. The worker, Darya Shiplova, who worked at a plague research institute in Siberia, is believed to have died of pneumonic plague. Russia subsequently quarantined dozens of people but said there was no risk of an epidemic, while a WHO official, meanwhile, called for the country to provide more information. But what is plague and why is it that is has been more or less forgotten? What was India’s tryst with plague in the 1890s and then again in Surat in 1994? How infectious is it and how is it treated? Is there really a risk of a plague breakout? Guest: Rajib Dasgupta: Head, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University Host: Zubeda Hamid Producer: Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices