Ritual as the Foundation

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into education and socialization processes raises critical questions about its impact on human identity, cultural continuity, and ethical frameworks. While AI is often viewed through a utilitarian lens—enhancing efficiency and personalization in learning—its deeper influence on moral formation, subjectivity, and intergenerational transmission of values remains underexplored. Drawing on Confucian philosophy, particularly the concept of ritual (礼 lǐ) as a formative practice rather than a rigid algorithm, this article proposes a ritual framework for AI design that aligns technological progress with cultural and ethical traditions. By synthesizing the Confucian emphasis on moral self-cultivation with contemporary theories of sociocultural codes and digital ethics, I argue that AI should function not as a replacement for human moral agency but as a structural-ritual regulator that fosters ethical attention (敬 jìng) and participatory learning. This framework seeks to reconcile technological advancement with cultural diversity, ensuring that AI enhances, rather than disrupts, the humanistic foundations of education in a globalized world. By embedding slowness, adaptive repetition, embodied engagement, and ethical narrativization, AI can transcend instrumental logic to become a culturally coherent mediator. This framework does not reject technological progress but insists that it harmonize with what Confucius termed 和而不同 (hé ér bù tóng)—“harmony without uniformity.” Future work must test these principles in real-world applications, ensuring AI sustains, rather than erodes, the moral and cognitive depths of human education.