Forum: Embracing AI while preserving human spirit in digital age

Zhou Guoping, a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, stressed that AI can never take the place of real human value, despite its swift technological advances.

Noting that AI is a tool running on data and algorithms, Zhou said it can handle knowledge storage, calculation, and routine work more efficiently, "but it has no real life, consciousness, emotions or moral sense".

"It can only simulate human feelings and follow existing rules, rather than thinking independently or pursuing spiritual truth."

Zhou stressed that what makes humans unique is creativity, imagination, inner feelings, empathy, and the ability to question and innovate. Instead of relying blindly on AI, people should use it as a helper while holding fast to humanistic warmth, moral judgment and spiritual pursuit that machines can never replicate, he said.