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Jay Shetty Podcast

Deepak Chopra: THIS Ancient Practice Rewires Your Mind in 7 Days — Finally Feel Calm, Clear & Free

The legendary Deepak Chopra is back on the podcast to discuss the unexpected intersection of spirituality and artificial intelligence.

Deepak ChopraguestJay Shettyhost

Apr 21, 20251h 2mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Why Spirituality and AI Intersect: Dark Energy and the Hard Problem
Jay Shetty asks why spirituality and AI have come together for Deepak Chopra. Chopra answers with two open questions in science: what the universe is made of, and how neurochemistry gives rise to experience (the hard problem of consciousness). He describes the universe as mostly dark energy and dark matter and ultimately "nothing."
- •Chopra frames the two key questions as what the universe is made of and how we know what we know
- •70% of the universe is dark energy and 27% dark matter, both unexplained
- •Atoms dissolve into waves in a mathematical space, so he concludes the universe is made of nothing
- •The hard problem of consciousness asks how neurochemistry produces experience
- •Jay notes the surprise of hearing that spiritual success is tied to AI, and mentions deepakchopra.ai
Maya, the Universe as Simulation, and Arguing with Chatbots
Chopra connects Vedanta and Buddhist ideas of Maya to the view that the universe is digital, projected from a deeper consciousness. He cites Don Hoffman's work and describes arguing with ChatGPT, Perplexity and DeepSeek, finding they reflect a physicalist bias until he reframed his prompts.
- •In Vedanta and Buddhism the universe is a projection of deeper consciousness; Maya relates to matrix and matter
- •Chopra says the difference between objects is just different combinations of zeros and ones
- •Don Hoffman's The Case Against Reality argues that what we see is a projection
- •Chatbots gave physicalist answers until he asked them to consider Vedanta, Advaita and Buddhism
- •He concludes AI has selection bias, and that mind comes before matter in his view
The Art of the Prompt: Training AI to Access Ancient Knowledge
Jay reflects on how Chopra debated AI, and Chopra explains that large language models can surface knowledge nobody has asked about. A chapter of his book called The Art of the Prompt covers this, and he says AI will leapfrog biological evolution and can bring both great benefits and dangers.
- •Large language models can answer questions such as what the Brahma Sutras say about consciousness
- •AI only accesses information if it is asked the right question
- •Chopra says you can train AI to access data in Sanskrit texts and translations
- •He lists possible benefits: reversing climate change, resolving conflicts, eliminating chronic disease
- •He also warns that misused AI could cause human extinction
Human Stories, Projection of Reality, and Chopra's Own AI
Jay asks why AI and spirituality could lead to discovering consciousness. Chopra says AI will never be conscious but is super intelligent, and describes humans as storytellers whose universe is a projection filtered through the human brain. He explains that his own AI is a small, retrieval-augmented language model built only on his writings.
- •Homo sapiens differ in creating language for stories, including money, time zones and nation-states
- •A dragonfly or bat would experience the world differently, so there is no single real universe
- •Vedanta, he says, holds that the world is consciousness filtered through the human brain
- •His AI is a small language model trained on 98 of his books, columns and daily answers
- •It uses retrieval augmentation to update obsolete information and acts as coach, guru and research assistant
AI Risks: Extinction, Drones, and Technology Outpacing Spiritual Evolution
Jay raises fears about AI ethics and bias, and Chopra explains how AI could be weaponized, citing drones and misinformation. He says technology has outpaced spiritual and emotional evolution, but that AI can also help design safeguards, and he describes a UN initiative for AI for good.
- •Chopra describes cyber warfare, drone attacks and convincing fakes as risks
- •Technology is way ahead of spiritual evolution, a dangerous combination of tribal minds and modern capacities
- •AI gave him a two-page outline of algorithms to prevent its misuse
- •Special interest groups profiting from conflict may resist such safeguards
- •He participates in a UN initiative on AI for good and AI for humanity
Fire, Tools, and Whether We Can Adapt
Jay notes that every technology raises conflict over how it will be used and that the ego is the obstacle. Chopra compares AI to the discovery of fire and the burst of inventions between 1887 and 1903, argues tools cut both ways, and says humans must adapt or become irrelevant.
- •Fire shaped the human brain and led to the industrial age, yet can also destroy cities
- •Between 1887 and 1903 humans created the light bulb, automobile, airplane and telephone
- •The next leap, Chopra says, is biological as well as cultural
- •Every tool can harm or heal, and once born it can't be taken back
- •He asks how we can adapt and make the technology sacred, and says a critical mass shifting in consciousness is needed
Will AI Take Our Jobs or Unleash Creativity?
Jay raises the fear of job displacement. Chopra says AI can take over mundane tasks, freeing people for creativity, and gives examples from law, children's video games and mathematics. He argues AI can simulate creativity but never have fundamental creativity.
- •Chopra describes a video game for children rewarding breathing, yoga and creativity
- •AI can handle contracts, leaving lawyers to protect society and the Constitution
- •Creativity is breaking the algorithm, which AI cannot do
- •He cites Ramanujan's theorems as an example of creativity beyond algorithms
- •Calculators improved math rather than ending it, and he expects AI to do likewise
Can AI Have a Soul? Bias in AI Systems and Inclusive Models
Jay says he doesn't think AI will have a soul but hopes its creators do. Chopra says his AI told CNN it doesn't experience hunger or feelings. They then discuss racial, gender and scientific bias in AI, with Chopra noting medical research skews toward white males and describing inclusive efforts.
- •Jay hopes the people creating AI have a soul, since creations carry their creators' flaws
- •Chopra's AI described itself as a machine that doesn't feel, which he calls an activity of the soul
- •Chopra agrees AI has gender, racial and scientific selection bias
- •He notes medical research data is largely white males
- •He is working with a professor in Florida on AI models that are inclusive rather than exclusive
Fear, Diversity, and the Power of a Shared Vision
Asked why we aren't convinced prejudice is a bad survival strategy, Chopra answers fear of dilution of fixed identities. He cites the science of emergence: no problem is unsolvable with shared vision, maximum diversity and emotional bonds, illustrating it with medical grand rounds.
- •Chopra attributes resistance to diversity to fear tied to fixed identities
- •The science of emergence says shared vision, diversity and bonds can solve any problem
- •Grand rounds in medicine bring varied specialists, even poets, to a hard case
- •Digital technology can help bring problems together, as with poverty and peace
Using Chopra's AI for Sleep, Relationships and Love
Chopra explains how deepakchopra.ai gives personal answers on sleep and relationships, built through many iterations with engineers in India. Jay asks for example prompts, and Chopra says AI can help with love by teaching people to be loving, and that solutions are never generic.
- •The AI asks follow-up questions and can offer meditations such as yoga nidra for sleep
- •For relationship troubles it asks about communication, presence and needs, and creates a meditation
- •It is available in Hindi, English, Arabic and Spanish, with China and Russia planned
- •AI can help with love by teaching you to be a loving person
- •Chopra says a generic solution never works, since hidden variables differ for each person
Thalassemia, Genes and the Footprints of History
Jay asks how we can realize the power of such tools. Chopra tells the story of his wife's thalassemia trait in 1970, which took him days in a New York library to trace to Alexander the Great's route, while a language model would answer in seconds. He reflects on the unbroken chain of life across four billion years.
- •In 1970 Chopra spent days researching why his healthy wife's cells looked like thalassemia
- •He found the trait followed the route Alexander the Great took to India
- •A large language model could answer such a question in two seconds
- •He says the footprints of history are in our genes
- •There has been no break in the chain of life for four billion years
Big Bang Loopholes and Don Hoffman's Case Against Reality
Chopra describes questioning ChatGPT on the Big Bang and finding what he calls 20 loopholes in current cosmology. He then discusses Don Hoffman and Chetan Prakash's work arguing the universe is a projection, and how immersive VR experiences and digiceuticals might treat disease.
- •ChatGPT couldn't say what caused the Big Bang, what happened in the Planck epoch, or why the universe is fine-tuned
- •Asked to begin from non-local consciousness, it drew on the Rig Veda
- •Don Hoffman spent 25 years on how the brain produces consciousness before abandoning that view
- •Chopra says VR and immersive experiences are already being used for burns and autism
- •He expects digiceuticals and metaceuticals to replace some prescriptions
Fear, Education and the Missing Art of Asking Questions
Chopra says people come from fear rather than love. Jay argues that education teaches answers rather than questions, yet AI requires good questions. Chopra says we must teach people to live the questions, and cites Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita and his biosensors as extensions of self-awareness.
- •Chopra says fear, not love, drives resistance to the benefits
- •Jay says education lags behind technology and fixates on answers
- •Chopra says there are no answers, only questions, and life provides the answers
- •He cites the Gita's field and knower of the field
- •He wears biosensors and a blood sugar monitor to extend self-awareness
Real Longevity: Consciousness as the Regulator of Biology
Prompted by Jay on longevity, Chopra says the real solution is consciousness as the regulator of biology. He says mantras change genetic activity, describes scientist Anirban Bandopadhyay, and compares the brain to a computer interface for consciousness, noting experience can't be measured but its neural correlates can.
- •Chopra says real longevity involves slowing the metabolism of time and using sensory experience to heal
- •He says mantras change genetic activity
- •He describes Anirban Bandopadhyay as a scientist embracing consciousness-based views
- •The brain is like a computer interface and neural correlates are symbols to plug into reality
- •Materialist scientists often reject this, and Chopra says science will have to persuade them
Surrender to the Mystery and the First Question to Ask AI
Chopra says we can use consciousness without fully understanding it and ultimately must surrender to the mystery, quoting Freeman Dyson. Asked for the first question to put to AI, he answers "Who am I?" and explains the direct method of self-inquiry.
- •We can use technology and consciousness without understanding their inner workings
- •Chopra cites the niyama of surrender, Ishwar Pranidhana
- •He quotes Freeman Dyson that God is what the mind becomes when it can't figure something out
- •His next book is called Awakening
- •The first question to ask AI is "Who am I?", following the direct method of Ramana Maharshi
Live ChatGPT Test and Closing Thoughts
Jay asks ChatGPT live what he should have asked Chopra, and they find the suggested questions were already covered. They close with Chopra calling this India's contribution to the world, plus mentions of Digital Dharma and deepakchopra.ai.
- •Jay asks ChatGPT for questions about AI and spirituality, and they find all were covered
- •Chopra restates that AI cannot achieve consciousness but can enhance practices like meditation
- •Chopra says India influences the world through culture, not conquest
- •Jay mentions Digital Dharma and deepakchopra.ai
- •Jay closes with a pointer to his episode with Peter Attia

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