Who We Are
Twenty-five years of digital divide work, deep roots in Buddhist and Islamic philosophical traditions, and institutional relationships across four continents.
Leadership
Professor of Philosophy at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand's premier academic institution. One of Asia's leading voices on AI ethics, digital culture, and Buddhist approaches to technology governance. Author of multiple books on the intersection of Eastern philosophy and information technology.
Professor Soraj brings three decades of philosophical inquiry into how Buddhist concepts of interdependence, mindfulness, and the Middle Way apply to contemporary technology challenges. His work provides the intellectual foundation for the coalition's approach: that consciousness must direct intelligence, not the reverse.
His position at Chulalongkorn University — consistently ranked among Asia's top 50 universities — gives the coalition institutional credibility and access to Thailand's policy-making circles. The university's 800-year tradition of advising Thai governance provides historical depth that no think tank or NGO can match.
Founder and Chairman of the Digital Divide Institute, with 25 years of experience creating technology governance frameworks for Global South nations. His "Meaningful Broadband" framework became national policy in Thailand (2006) and Indonesia (2007), establishing his track record of turning philosophical concepts into actionable governance.
Academic appointments include Harvard Kennedy School, MIT Media Lab, Lee Kuan Yew School at the National University of Singapore, ten years teaching philosophy at Chulalongkorn University, and three years as visiting professor at Peking University. This breadth provides deep understanding of both Western and Eastern approaches to technology governance.
Over 50 years of Buddhist contemplative practice, beginning in 1971, and teaching Mudra Space Awareness — a contemplative discipline rooted in Tibetan Buddhist monastic dance — at venues including Juilliard School. Co-organized the original digital divide movement at the 1999 Seattle WTO meetings with Bill Gates Sr. His experience bridges the contemplative and the practical in ways that inform the coalition's foundational principle: that consciousness must direct intelligence.
Chairman of the Indonesian ICT Society and son of former President B.J. Habibie. Leads Wantiknas, the National ICT Council that provides presidential-level interministerial coordination for technology governance — the institutional mechanism that makes cross-agency AI policy possible in Indonesia.
Long-standing partnership with the Digital Divide Institute, dating to the 2019–2020 Meaningful Broadband collaboration that helped shape Indonesia's digital infrastructure strategy. His position bridges the private sector (technology entrepreneur), the public sector (government coordination), and the legacy of Indonesia's most technology-forward presidency.
Ilham's role in the coalition is operational: he provides the institutional architecture for implementing AI Middle Way governance across Indonesia's 270 million people and 17,000 islands — the scale test that proves whether the model works in the world's most complex archipelagic nation.
Institutional Partners
Coalition Anchor
Thailand's most prestigious university. Home of the AI Middle Way intellectual framework. The institutional base from which the Bangkok Declaration will be issued on April 21, 2026.
Operational Lead
25-year track record in Global South technology governance. Creator of the Meaningful Broadband framework adopted by Thailand and Indonesia. Builder of institutional relationships across four continents.
"The AI Middle Way is not a compromise between American and Chinese models. It is an emergent property — something new that arises from the interaction of existing forces, the way water arises from hydrogen and oxygen but is neither."
This concept draws on Kenneth Boulding's general systems theory and 2,500 years of contemplative tradition across Buddhist, Islamic, Catholic, and Confucian philosophical frameworks. The Middle Way is not the midpoint between extremes — it is a fundamentally different category that uses the tension between extremes as creative energy.
Advisory Board
The AI Middle Way Coalition is building an advisory board of scholars, technologists, policy makers, and practitioners who share the vision of a third path for AI governance.
We seek advisors with expertise in AI governance, Global South development economics, digital public infrastructure, philosophy of technology, cooperative economics, and international relations.
Express Interest