[GAFH 2026] Park Jung jin “Peace and Ethics Must Be Proactively Designed Into AI Algorithms”

[Cheonji Ilbo=Nam Seung-woo] Park Jung-jin, Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology, delivers a presentation on the theme of embedding ethics and peace into AI systems at the Global AI Forum for Human Co-Prosperity 2026, held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul, on June 12. c천지일보 2026.06.12. [Cheonji Ilbo=Lee Som] A proposal has been put forward that, in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), when human civilization is increasingly becoming mechanized and automated, the world must move beyond post-factum peacekeeping and proactively embed peace and ethics from the very stage at which AI algorithms are designed. Park Jung-jin, Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology and World Peace Research Institute director, made the remarks on June 12 during a presentation titled “Peace and Ethics in the AI Era Must Begin With Algorithms” at the Global AI Forum for Human Co-Prosperity 2026 (GAFH 2026), held at the International Conference Hall of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. Park diagnosed that, with the arrival of the AI era, human civilization is being reorganized around calculation, efficiency, automation and optimization. “Human beings are moving from beings who actively navigate the world to beings who operate within systems,” he said. “We have entered an era in which even thinking itself is beginning to be outsourced to AI.” He explained that modern civilization is increasingly connected through vast mechanical systems, ranging from schools, states, capital, religion, language and media to AI. “Civilization is becoming less like a living organism and more like an automated operating system,” he analyzed. Park identified the “outsourcing of thought” as the most significant change in the AI era. He said that as AI assists not only with memory and calculation but also with writing, analysis and judgment, the structure of human mental functions is shifting toward dependence on platforms. “Human beings are at risk of moving from beings who ask questions to beings who receive recommendations,” Park warned. “It is not AI that is becoming like humans, but humans who are becoming fast, efficient and optimized like AI.” Amid these changes, he pointed out that the values of silence, meditation, contemplation and slowness are increasingly being treated as inefficient. “The central task of the AI era is to ensure that human beings are not reduced to machines,” he said. “We must recover the inherent human values that realize freedom, equality and peace.” Park explained that human civilization has developed within a dual structure of cooperation and conflict. He cited families, communities and international cooperation as examples of cooperation, while identifying territorial disputes, religious conflicts and economic hegemonic competition as examples of conflict. In the realm of conflict, he assessed that information warfare, cyberwarfare, the AI arms race and algorithmic warfare have recently emerged as new threats. In particular, he warned that “future wars could become wars of AI, in other words, AI proxy wars,” stressing the need to remain vigilant against the possibility of AI being used as a war machine. Park also explained the differences among the Industrial Revolution, the Information Revolution and the AI Revolution. The Industrial Revolution, he said, was the “mechanization of the body,” replacing human labor with machines, while the Information Revolution represented the “informatization of consciousness,” in which memory and calculation were externalized. By contrast, Park said the AI Revolution is fundamentally different from previous revolutions in that it automates the human thinking process itself. “The automation of thought can lead to the automation of war,” he said, calling for an international response to the spread of AI-based military decision-making and autonomous weapons systems. Park stressed that the international community, including the United Nations, must establish a new peace framework suited to the AI era. “It is difficult to guarantee sustainable peace through a post-factum approach that restores peace only after war,” he said. “A proactive approach is needed to embed peace consciousness and peace programs into the process of algorithm formation.” “Future peace will not begin with treaties or declarations, but with algorithms and structures of consciousness,” he added. “We must design a structure that makes it inherently difficult for war to occur, rather than seeking peace only after a war has broken out.” During the question-and-answer session that followed, Park was asked about the decisive difference between life and machines. “Machines can be made by human hands, but life is not made; it is naturally generated,” he said. “No matter how advanced AI becomes, it remains a creation made by humans and can never become life.” Addressing the forum’s core theme of “Hongik AI,” Park emphasized that society must now move beyond the spirit of Hongik Ingan, the principle established by Korean ancestors meaning “broad benefit to humanity,” and advance to the stage of Hongik Jayeon, or “broad benefit to nature.” “It is not enough to benefit only humans,” he said. “True co-prosperity becomes possible only when nature and ecosystems are also benefited. The spirit of Hongik Ingan and Hongik Jayeon must be reflected in the ethics and policy direction of the AI era.”