rebel buddhist | scholar | storyteller
Elaine Lai, Ph.D
Recent Public Scholarship:
“AI Ethics and the Humanities: A Perspective from Buddhist Studies”
Keynote paper with the Digital Orientalist, November 21, 2025
“Why Buddhism would caution against making AI avatars of the deceased”
Explainer with The Conversation, July 29, 2025
“Will the Next Dalai Lama Be a Machine?”
Op-Ed with Religion News Service, June 24, 2025
Happy New Year 新年快樂 Trailer
Short Film, 2022
Duration: 14 mins
A Taiwanese American Buddhist woman commits to five random acts of kindness to close out the year, but her day is disrupted when she suddenly becomes a target of anti-Asian violence.
Written & Co-directed by: Elaine Lai
Co-Director: AnQi Yu
Happy New Year 新年快樂 Trailer (Edited by: Aftab Hafeez, Music by: Cahron Cross)
Blue Lotus
Audio Play, 2021
Duration: 3h 12mins
Story of enlightenment in female form that challenges the conventional narrative associated with the Buddha.
Written & Co-directed by: Elaine Lai
Co-director & Sound Design by: Cahron Cross
Art by: Nina Macintosh
Neighbors 鄰居
Audio Play, 2021
Duration: 2h 10mins
Three intertwining stories of queer Asian/Asian Americans who don’t fit into the dominant story of “America” or in the Chinese-American community.
Written & Co-directed by: Elaine Lai
Co-director & Sound Design by: Cahron Cross
Birthday Visit 生日探访
Short Film, 2010
Duration: 20 mins
A Father visits his daughter in Beijing to celebrate her birthday two months too late.
Written and Directed by: Elaine Lai
Made with the help of the Bejing Film Academy