[102nd TrustML Young Scientist Seminar] Talk by Prof. Javen Qinfeng Shi (University of Adelaide) "Doing, Knowing, and Being: Reimagining Intelligence in Humans and Machines"

Date and Time: December 16, 2025, 10:30 -- 11:30 (JST)
Venue: Hybrid
*Open Space is available to AIP researchers only

Title: Doing, Knowing, and Being: Reimagining Intelligence in Humans and Machines

Speaker:
Prof. Javen Qinfeng Shi
Director, Causal AI Group · Interim Director, Responsible AI Research Centre (RAIR)
Director of Advanced Reasoning and Learning, Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML)
Professor, University of Adelaide

Abstract:
Artificial intelligence mirrors and magnifies the essential dimensions of human existence — doing, knowing, and being. These three lenses provide a unifying framework for examining not only what AI can achieve, but also what it means for human evolution in an age of intelligent machines.

In this talk, I explore Causal and Responsible AI through these interwoven dimensions.
In doing, I examine how AI’s expanding capabilities — from reasoning and creativity to autonomous action — redefine the boundaries of work, agency, and human purpose. As knowledge and skills become instantly accessible through intelligent systems, we must ask: what remains uniquely human to cultivate?

In knowing, I revisit the question of understanding itself. Are large language models merely eloquent parrots, or do they exhibit genuine comprehension? Recent advances suggest that these models implicitly encode human-interpretable concepts and causal relations, forming an emergent “mind of AI” that both learns from and reshapes the collective human intellect.

In being, I turn to the inner dimension of intelligence — awareness, intention, and authenticity. Doing is not being, and effort alone does not change one’s destiny. For both human and artificial systems, alignment with a deeper cause — a form of Dharma — may define the next frontier of intelligence. Rather than replacing us, AI can act as a mirror and trimmer, revealing what is essential and real within ourselves.

The journey concludes by synthesizing causality and responsibility — not only as computational principles but as moral and existential imperatives for the future of intelligence. Drawing from my new book Be Cause: You Are the Cause!, I invite us to reflect on how we, as creators of AI, might also become wiser beings — architects of a more conscious and responsible world.

Short Bio:
Professor Javen Qinfeng Shi is a scientist and mystic bridging cutting-edge AI with the inner mysteries of consciousness. His research spans causality, AI, mind, and metaphysics. He is a recipient of the ACM SIGIR 2025 Test of Time Award and the Open Catalyst Challenge at NeurIPS AI for Science 2023, where his team used AI to discover new energy materials.

Beyond the lab, Professor Shi explores the spiritual dimensions of intelligence. In his works Be Cause: You Are the Cause! and Seven Wisdoms for Success, he offers a vision for the Aquarian Age—awakening humanity as conscious co-creators who unite scientific insight and spiritual wisdom to transform both personal destiny and collective evolution.