Honoring Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Celebrating Governor Michael Dukakis’s 92nd Birthday
Cambridge, Massachusetts – November 3, 2025
At the historic Harvard University Faculty Club, the Boston Global Forum (BGF) hosted the World Leader Spirit Symposium, a landmark event honoring Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar with the 2025 World Leader for Peace and Security Award.
A highlight of the Symposium was the presentation of the Shinzo Abe Film Project by the AIWS Film Park team — a cinematic initiative celebrating the life, vision, and legacy of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, recipient of the 2015 World Leader for Peace and Security Award. The film is part of the broader Shinzo Abe Initiative to promote peace, democracy, and innovation in the Age of AI.
The event also joyfully celebrated the 92nd birthday of Governor Michael Dukakis (born November 3, 1933), Co-founder and Co-chair of the Boston Global Forum, honoring his lifelong contributions to public service, education, and ethical leadership.
Distinguished global thinkers, innovators, and leaders attended this memorable gathering — a fusion of reflection, creativity, and vision — reaffirming BGF’s commitment to building an AI World Society grounded in peace, compassion, and enlightenment.
Announcement at the World Leader Spirit Symposium Harvard University, November 3–4, 2025
Boston Global Forum
From Boston to the World: U.S. Leadership for the AI Age
As we look toward 2026 and beyond, the Boston Global Forum (BGF) and the AI World Society (AIWS) family will launch a series of visionary initiatives to celebrate this historic milestone and reaffirm America’s role as the guiding light of freedom, innovation, and ethical leadership in the AI Age.
BGF contributes strategies and solutions to keep the United States a pioneering, innovative, and creative force in the Age of AI, ensuring that America continues to lead the world with integrity, compassion, and enlightenment.
Key Initiatives
The World Leader Spirit Symposiums
Bringing together world leaders, innovators, and artists to define the moral compass of the AI Age, guiding humanity toward a more ethical and enlightened civilization.
The AIWS Government 24/7 Initiative
Pioneering a model of ethical, transparent, and responsive governance through AI, where artificial intelligence serves people 24/7 with fairness, trust, and accountability.
The AIWS Digital Asset Standards Initiative (AIWS-DASI)
Creating trust, fairness, and value in the digital economy through transparent standards and ethical certification — ensuring that AI-generated content and digital assets reflect truth, creativity, and integrity.
The AIWS Music for Humanity and AIWS Film and Culture Park Programs
Celebrating the harmony of technology and art.
These programs remind us that even in an age of machines, the human heart remains the greatest source of wisdom, compassion, and creativity.
Connecting Sacred Places and Spiritual Values in the AI World Society (AIWS)
A Journey from Nha Trang to Boston, the Grand Canyon, Zion, Yellowstone, and Acadia — Where Spirit, Nature, and Wisdom Converge in the Age of AI.
This global initiative, part of the AIWS Film and Culture Park, connects sacred and inspiring locations through film, music, and digital art — illuminating how AI can enrich humanity’s relationship with nature, spirituality, and culture.
A Message for America’s 250th Year
In 2026, as the world celebrates 250 years of American independence, the Boston Global Forum and the AI World Society will proudly stand as part of that celebration — a reflection of the ideals that made America great: its faith in education, its openness to innovation, and its belief in the moral power of human creativity.
We call upon all nations to join hands in building a New Society in the Age of AI — a world of peace, enlightenment, and shared humanity.
America: A Beacon of Light in the Age of AI
As we approach this historic year, the BGF–AIWS Family will contribute transformative initiatives to make America a true beacon — guiding the world in building a beautiful, creative, and compassionate AI civilization through the AIWS Model.
In this glorious year of America’s 250th anniversary, we reaffirm that the nation that once pioneered democracy will once again illuminate the path forward — guiding humanity toward a world where AI serves love, peace, and enlightenment.
The Boston Global Forum (BGF) hosted its annual conference on November 4, 2025, at Harvard University’s Loeb House, where Nguyen Anh Tuan, Co-Founder, Co-Chair, and CEO of BGF, announced the launch of the AIWS Digital Asset Standards Initiative (DASI).
This groundbreaking framework aims to set global standards for ethical, transparent, and sustainable digital asset issuance, aligning with the Boston Finance Accord’s 24/7 AI Governance Vision (launched April 22, 2025). DASI establishes benchmarks for blockchain-certified assets, including NFTs honoring World Leaders for Peace and Security and World Leaders in AIWS, ensuring integrity, humanitarian allocation, and integration with AIWS initiatives like AIWS Government 24/7 and the Abe Finance AI Protocol.
Speakers included:
Professor Tarun Khanna, Harvard Business School
Professor Thomas Patterson, Harvard Professor
Professor Nazli Choucri, MIT Professor
Elisabeth Moreno, Former French Minister
Alvaro Rodriguez, Harvard Business School Executive Fellows, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of IGNIA
Jeff Saviano, MIT Senior Lecture, Harvard AI Ethics Contributor
Cansu Canca, AI Ethics Scholar
Kanetsugu Mike, President, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Bank
Jodeph Jye-Cherng Lyu, Chairman, International Economic Cooperation Association, Taiwan
“DASI is a beacon for responsible innovation, transforming digital assets into tools for global enlightenment,” said Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of BGF, emphasizing BGF’s commitment to balancing technology with humanistic values.
The conference featured discussions on the initiative’s early December 2025 rollout, including the issuance of AIWS World Leader Tokens and foundational leader assets, projected to generate $12–15 billion by 2030 to support not-for-profit AIWS models. Key highlights included panels on ethical AI finance and sustainable governance, with contributions from BGF Board Members Nguyen Anh Tuan, Alex Pentland, David Silbersweig, Jeff Saviano, Yasuhide Nakayama, and Elisabeth Moreno.
DASI builds on BGF’s 2025 milestones, including AIWS Bank’s launch (May 26) and the 10th anniversary of the World Leader for Peace and Security Award.
Your Holiness, distinguished leaders, scholars, and friends,
It is a profound honor and privilege to stand before you today to recognize one of the world’s great spiritual and humanitarian leaders — Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar — as the 2025 World Leader for Peace and Security Award recipient.
From the very beginning, the Boston Global Forum (BGF) has sought to celebrate those whose leadership transcends borders, politics, and ideology — individuals whose vision uplifts humanity and reminds us of the moral foundation of peace. Gurudev, you embody precisely that spirit.
Through The Art of Living Foundation, you have touched millions of lives across continents — teaching peace not as an abstract ideal, but as a daily practice rooted in compassion, forgiveness, and understanding. You have shown that inner peace is not separate from world peace — that governance, technology, and progress must always be guided by the light of conscience.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has dedicated his life to building bridges among faiths and cultures, to universalizing wisdom, and to nurturing compassion, love, and mutual understanding — toward a stress-free, violence-free world. Guided by the Gandhian principles of nonviolence, you have advanced reconciliation and healing in conflict-stricken regions such as Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela.
At moments when our world feels fractured — by war, polarization, and fear — your voice has reminded us that reconciliation begins in the human heart. You have built bridges between nations and faiths, between reason and spirituality, and between humanity and nature.
The Boston Global Forum and the AI World Society (AIWS) are deeply inspired by your message that technology must serve humanity, not dominate it — that the intelligence of machines must always be guided by the wisdom of the spirit. Through the AIWS model, we seek to bring spiritual and interfaith values into the digital age — to build a world where innovation and compassion advance hand in hand. In honoring you, we affirm that the future of peace depends on both ethical innovation and moral imagination.
As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of this Award — whose past recipients include world leaders such as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chancellor Angela Merkel, and President Emmanuel Macron — we see in you, Gurudev, a beacon of continuity: the union of spiritual leadership and ethical responsibility in an age defined by artificial intelligence and digital power.
On behalf of the Boston Global Forum – AIWS Family, we express our deepest respect and gratitude.
Now, the 2025 World Leader for Peace and Security, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, becomes a distinguished and esteemed member of the BGF–AIWS Family.
Your Holiness, your life’s work reminds us that peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but the active creation of harmony — within individuals, among societies, and across our shared planet.
May your example continue to guide global leaders and citizens alike toward a more compassionate, secure, and enlightened world.
Congratulations, Gurudev, and thank you for your unwavering service to humanity.
Governor Michael S. Dukakis
Chair and Co-Founder, Boston Global Forum
Director, The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Nguyen Anh Tuan
Co-Founder, Co-Chair, and CEO, Boston Global Forum
Director, The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Join the Boston Global Forum as we celebrate 10 monumental years of the World Leader for Peace and Security Award (2015–2025).
This video pays tribute to all past recipients who have dedicated their lives to building a more peaceful and ethical world.
We proudly honor this spirit of service by recognizing our 2025 laureate, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, for his profound work in transforming human consciousness and fostering global harmony.
Discover the vision and impact of a decade of the Award, and why the “World Leader Spirit” is more vital than ever in the AI Age.
Watch now to celebrate the leaders shaping tomorrow’s peace:
