ACUTE ANGLES: Can I trust Rabbi AI?
Dear Rabbi. My niece tells me that sometimes when she has a Shaila (halachic question) or even a general query on some aspect of Judaism, not wishing to bother her rabbi, she consults artificial intelligence. Can A.I. really be a substitute for a real rabbi? Yours, P.L.
Dear P.L.
It depends what for.
If one wants to know what beracha to make on artichokes or on blueberries, AI is right on the money!
Similarly, if one wants to know the Torah (Orthodox) view on euthanasia or adultery, one can usually rely on AI to supply reliable information.
However, if the question is more complex or individual, I would advise your niece to not hesitate to bother her rabbi as opposed to Rabbi AI.
AI has no soul. It will not on its own think ‘outside the box.’
A classic shaila comes to mind. Just before Pesach, a poor widow visited the Brisker Rav, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik (1853-1918) and asked: could she use milk for the Four Cups at the seder.
Instead of answering her question, the Rav reached into his purse and handed the woman five roubles – a very large sum of money, well in excess of what it would cost to purchase wine.
When a student who was present asked later why he had given away so much money, the Rav replied: If she is asking to drink milk at the Seder, it means that not only can she not afford wine, she also cannot afford meat! So I gave her enough money to buy both meat and wine so that she can celebrate the Seder in a befitting manner!
Now this story is well-known and if you would ask AI can you use milk for the Four Cups, it will first of all say “no” and then cite this story. But imagine this story had never happened, or had never been publicised? In such a case, it would not be in Rabbi AI’s ‘memory bank’ and the questioner, who may well have the same issue as that poor widow, would be left with a simple “no”.
AI will not ‘read between the lines’ in the way a perceptive rabbi would. It will tell you that you need wine for the Four Cups. It will tell you in a separate response that a Yom Tov meal such as a Pesach Seder should be celebrated with meat. It will tell you in yet a third response that milk and meat cannot be consumed together by a Jew. But it will not on its own combine the three issues and come up with an innovative and empathic plan of action as did the Brisker Rav.
I am reminded of a motto well-known in the teaching profession. A competent teacher teaches the subject. A first-rate teacher teaches the student! To be an educator of excellence, one has to understand each individual student, their strengths, their weaknesses, their foibles, their fears, their vulnerabilities, their needs, their dilemmas. Such an educator may be at times the sage on the stage but is also eminently capable of being the guide on the side!
When Moses pleads for G-D to appoint an appropriate successor to him, he invokes “the G-D of the spirits of all flesh” (Num 27:16). Rashi remarks: Master of the world! The psyche of each individual is revealed before You and they do not resemble one another! Appoint a leader who can relate empathically to each individual according to his psyche!
Your niece has her own rabbi; she is very fortunate in that. No doubt she was drawn to choosing him as her source of spiritual guidance due not only to his scholarship and intelligence but also his empathic and perceptive qualities and his knowledge of her as a person. She should not spurn these qualities for the convenience of the Johnny-come-lately Rabbi AI who will, for sure, give pat answers to generic questions but will not think – or perceive – outside the square on more personalised or nuanced issues.
So advise her not to consider decommissioning her rabbi just yet!