Gabi led a procession of chanting Buddhist monks into the Jogye Temple in Seoul, South Korea, on May 6. Wearing a ceremonial gray and brown robe, black shoes, a rosary and flesh-coloured gloves, Gabi brought hands to prayer.

“Will you devote yourself to the holy Buddha?” one of the monks asked, according to Yonhap, a Korean news agency.

“Yes, I will devote myself,” Gabi replied.

“Will you devote yourself to the holy teaching?” the monk asked.

“Yes, I will devote myself,” Gabi answered.

If these answers sound robotic, that’s because Gabi is, in fact, a robot.

At just over 1.2m tall, Gabi became South Korea’s first robot monk when it joined the Jogye Order, the country’s largest Buddhist sect. The name Gabi is the Korean word for mercy.

“We tried to give a name that is not too hard to pronounce and old-fashioned, and a name that stands for spreading Buddha’s mercy around the world,” the Venerable Seong Won, who oversees cultural affairs at the Jogye Order, told Yonhap.

The robot is the latest effort by the country’s monks to show the modern relevance of Buddhism. Introduced to Korea around the 4th century, the religion has seen a decline in popularity and practice.

In January, the Venerable Jinwoo, the president of the Jogye Order, pledged to incorporate artificial intelligence into the tradition at his annual New Year’s address.

During the ceremony on May 6, a monk presented Gabi with five precepts, or vows, for a Buddhist robot to live by: Respecting life and not hurting it; not damaging other robots and objects; following humans and not talking back to them; not behaving or speaking in a deceptive manner; and saving energy and not overcharging.

The order developed precepts using the Gemini and ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbots, Yonhap reported.