Who is Swami Sarvapriyananda? Hindu monk invited by Anthropic ‘not for a job’ but to give AI a ‘moral compass’

Social media is flooded with videos of Hindu monk Swami Sarvapriyananda, who claimed that he was invited to Anthropic headquarters in San Francisco.

The viral videos drew attention to Anthropic's purported engagement with religious scholars and philosophers to train AI and discuss moral and ethical issues.

In one such clip, Swami Sarvapriyananda is heard saying that Anthropic initially approached him for an online interview, "not for a job." He was later invited to visit the company's headquarters in San Francisco.

He said an AI booked his flight and his hotel, and then authorities made him sign a Non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

"We will show you some things, but you cannot talk about it to the world, But the world now knows about it," Sarvapriyananda said while recalling his visit to the Anthropic headquarters.

Why was Sarvapriyananda invited to Anthropic headquarters?

Sarvapriyananda, however, teased some details of his visit, referring to "shiny kid on the block, Mythos" and "Project Glasswing".

Sarvapriyananda said he met religious thinkers from different traditions, as well as counsellors and mental health professionals.

Sarvapriyananda spoke about the meeting during a June 2026 talk at the Unity of Dallas, according to India Today.

"It was to train Claude [Anthropic's AI model], something to do with AI ethics...Anthropic itself has pushed hard for ethics in India," he could be heard saying in a purported video.

He said the discussions centred on questions of AI ethics and Claude's training.

Earlier, the New York Times reported that Anthropic has been holding private discussions with religious and philosophical thinkers from traditions including Catholicism, Judaism, Sikhism and evangelical Christianity.

The conversations reportedly explored issues of morality and ethics, as well as whether increasingly advanced AI systems could develop consciousness or possess some form of moral status.

“In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its AI models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious,” the New York Times reported.

Who is Swami Sarvapriyananda

Swami Sarvapriyananda is a distinguished monk of the Ramakrishna Order and currently serves as the Head of the Vedanta Society of New York, according to IIM Calcutta. He has been the Minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York since January 2017.

According to the details on the Vedanta Society website, Sarvapriyananda joined the Ramakrishna Math in 1994 and received sannyasa in 2004. He served as an acharya (teacher) of the monastic probationers’ training centre at Belur Math, India.

He also served in various capacities in different educational institutes of the Ramakrishna Mission in India and as the Assistant Minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California.

During 2019-2020, he was a Nagral Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School.

Sarvapriyananda has been a speaker on various prestigious forums such as TEDx, SAND, Google Talk etc. He has engaged in dialogue with many eminent thinkers such as Rupert Spira, Rick Archer, David Chalmers and Sam Harris.

In 2025, Swami Sarvapriyananda contributed to cross-disciplinary discussion on consciousness alongside Blaise Agüera y Arcas, a vice president and fellow at Google and CTO of Technology & Society, and Carlo Rovelli, a theoretical physicist known for his work in quantum gravity.

His publications include Mahavakya: The Essence of Vedanta, Fullness & Emptiness: Vedanta and Buddhism, and From Illusion to Infinity: Discovering the Self. The more recent book Conversations on Vedanta in Practice is a curated collection of question and answer sessions with the Swami, on topics of practical importance.