Dr. Chaim C. Cohen has a PhD. from Hebrew U., is a social worker and teacher at the Hebrew Univ. School of Social Work, and Efrata College. He lives in Psagot, Binyamin.
Introduction: How to avoid allowing AI to erode our sense of 'being created in the image of G-d'
Increasingly we are asking ourselves the question -consciously and unconsciously- What does it mean 'to be human' in the age when a rapidly developing artificial intelligence is seemingly spinning out of our control?
This article addresses this question from a Torah perspective. The article aims to provide relevant speculations and discussion, and not formative answers, regarding the destiny of our 'humanness', in Torah terms - 'our image of G-d'. Our discussion is speculative for two reasons. One, I confess, I am not a professional expert in the field of AI development. And two, most experts in the field also claim that, at this stage, they also do not have a very clear picture how far the development of AI will reach, and how it will affect human society.
And yet, AI has already penetrated most of our lives, and thus we cannot avoid trying to better understand the challenge of AI to the most personal corners of our lives.
In order to more comprehensively explore how AI impacts on our sense of ‘being created in the image of G-d', we will speculatively discuss the functioning of AI in three, existential dimensions of our Being.
One, the dimension of own cognitive-rational intelligence.
The personal meaningfulness of our rational-cognitive intelligence will likely play a reduced role in our lives, as AI will be able to 'out-think' ninety percent of the people, ninety percent of the time. AI will do a lot of our present thinking for us, and thus create a subjective feeling that our cognitive abilities are just not so special, and in many cognitive tasks AI simply out performs us.
And this ‘depressing’ fact will force us to ask ourselves, “How can our rational-cognitive abilities continue to be the defining characteristic of our ‘humanness-our image of G-d’ when AI outperforms them most of the day?" Jokingly I can ask, “Maybe it is AI (and not man) that has been created in the image of G-d?’.
Two, the dimension of our emotional intelligence.
The predominance of AI in the cognitive-rational realm will thus have the ‘side effect’ of dramatically increasing the existential significance of our abilities to meaningfully socially interact with family, friends and community. As will be explained, AI however cannot successfully function in the domain of real- live time, social interactions, such as those that are at the heart of the domain of marriage, family building, and parenting.
The inherent inability of AI to properly conduct our social interactions in real time will bring us to the understanding that our ‘humanness, our ‘image of G-d’ rather lies in our abilities to be successful parents and spouses, friends and community members. This insight, for example, is the core insight of Rav Soloveitchik’s theology.
Three, the dimension of our spiritual intelligence.
Praying, Torah study, and mitzvot observance will increase in their existential significance, because AI simply does not possess a ' spiritual based soul'. And just as AI cannot really function in the social relationship domain of parenting, AI also cannot establish a true interactive relationship with G-d and his Presence in a spiritual realm. Simply AI will never be able to pray, to speak the unspoken, and pour out our precious inner turmoil. G-d wants and demands that We will be his partner, and not some ‘stupid robot’. G-d craves our soul, and not our cognitive abilities
Thus, our very, very deep need to existentially bind with G-d will inevitably bring us to define ‘our humanness- our image of G-d’ as our divinely given ability to pray, and build a relationship, with our divine Father , (and not our cognitive-rationality)
AI is ultimately a ‘cluster of micro chips’, with no soul, who is confined to the world of ephemeral materialism, and offers us no way to travel in the eternity of G-d’s spiritual domain.
Further exploration of AI’s possible effect on the above three dimensions of our Jewish Being:
The dimension of our cognitive-rational intelligence
A secular perspective : As my knowledge of the possibilities of AI is limited, this discussion will be brief. First, at this moment AI basically processes and organizes existing ‘banks’ of facts and knowledge in a depth, breadth and speed beyond the capabilities of the single human mind. Maybe we can call its present abilities as ‘Google on steroids’. At this stage AI can be said to be ‘organizing, but not yet creating, knowledge’.
The second stage will be (in the future) when AI reaches a stage at which AI develops its own ability, to exploit existing human knowledge banks, in a much more independent fashion. This means AI will not only be able process information, but it will be able to critically analyze, judge and strategically plan in-depth human thinking processes. This second AI ability stage could be thus termed the ability to formulate and engage in independent, ‘original’ critical rationality.
The third stage would be for AI to create new knowledge banks on its own, and thus to independently teach, compete with, and judge the knowledge banks of humans. In brief, humans at this stage, will find themselves competing with the knowledge banks of robots. The science fiction scenario of humans living subordinate to robots would thus become a possible reality. This is to say, humans would begin to ‘be created in the image of Robots.’
In brief, there are many indications that robotic AI within 10 plus years will be more successful in processing information, more successful in critically analyzing information, and creating information than 98% of the human population.
But we can console ourselves that we will always be truer parents and family members, and truer spiritual searchers and creators., than AI, which is ultimately simply a ‘robot.’
The Torah perspective on defining our ‘image of G-d’ in cognitive-rational thinking terms
In Rabbinic literature, cognitive-rational thinking has been one of the primary definitions, but not the only one, of what constitutes our ‘image of G-d’. The rabbinic scholars who gave primacy when defining our 'image of G-d' to cognitive-rational abilities, including that of speech, include Targum Onkelos, Sadia Gaon, Bahya ibn Paqudah, Yehudah Ha Levi, the Rambam, and Gersonides.
In contrast, Kabbalistic and Chasidic thinkers have turned away from the primacy of cognitive-rational abilities as the definition of our ‘image of G-d’. Instead, they define our ‘image of G-d’ as our ability to actualize in our personal lives the relationship-covenantal attributes of G-d that he demonstrates in his relationship the Jewish people. Kabbalistic and Chasidic thinkers also give priority to developing our ability to overcome our self- centeredness, and our need to deeply bond with G-d, within the Kabbalah’s metaphysical-spiritual structure of Creation.
We can use the theology of Rav Soloveitchik to summarize this discussion of AI cognitive rationality and our creation in the ‘image of G-d’. Rav Soloveitchik explains that we act in the ‘image of G-d’ in two ways. One, when we create and enact technological, material, social and esthetic change (Adam First). And two, that we also act in ‘the image of G-d’ (Adam Second) when we create self- sacrificing, mutually obligating, interpersonal relationships with G-d and our family and our community.
Thus, using the Rav's concepts, we can say that with the future development of cognitive AI 'taking over' much of our personal Adam First creative cognition, the result will be that our Adam Second relationship with G-d will become the major source of sense of our ' humanness-image of G-d''
An additional comment in the context of our cognitive-rational abilities. In contrast to the secular world, our mitzvah 'to learn G-d's Torah' is unique in the realm of cognitive learning. Torah learning is at the same time both a cognitive and spiritual act. Thus, though I believe AI will significantly change the way we cognitively learn Torah, this should not at all diminish the meaningfulness that we derive from relating to G-d from this combination of the cognitive and the spiritual.
The dimension of our emotional and social intelligence
As our cognitive-rational intelligence becomes less primary in defining our 'image of G-d', our emotional and social intelligence will become more dominant.
A secular perspective
Emotional intelligence is understood as our ability to appropriately perceive, understand, use and regulate our emotions both when we are alone, and when we our interacting with others.
Social intelligence is the ability to understand social situations,interpret social cues, and behave effectively in interpersonal contexts.
All current research shows that AI possesses only the most primitive ability, if any ability at all, to act creatively in the realm of both emotional and social intelligence.
This is because AI lacks any sense of 'actual self-awareness'. AI does not 'possess a Self'. At most it can 'spit forth' some prefabricated, programmed quips and formulas. And most significantly it has no ability to function in the context of the 'real time, here and now' actuality of our social relationships.
The Torah perspective
Returning to Rav Soloveitchik, who teaches in his 'Lonely Man of Faith', that the DNA of our divine service is one of relationships. He argues that our relationship with G-d is primarily based on our relationship with family and community, and that our relationship with our family and community is primarily based on our relationship with G-d.
And AI has no role to play with regard to building and maintaining our emotionanal and social relationships. AI is completely neuter and barren in this dimension of human existence.
Thus, as AI 'takes over and diminishes' much of the meaningfulness we get from our cognitive activities, we will be inwardly compelled to find increasing meaningfulness- our image of G-d' humanness- in our family, parenting and community relationship. I predict that a person who lacks positive family and community relationships will feel increasingly alienated, and lost and alone, in an AI dominated world.
The dimension of our spiritual intelligence
The secular perspective on spiritual intelligence
In recent years, the tide of increasing secularization and abandonment of formal religion in post-modern Western society has somewhat slowed down. There is increasing curiosity and interest in the more spiritual aspects of our existence. Certain psychologists and sociologists have termed this phenomenon as a 'development of spiritual intelligence'.
These secular researchers define 'spiritual intelligence' as involvement in the search for, and definition of, the existential meaning of life, and creative engagement in activities which provide us with 'life meaning' by transcending our daily sensual/materialistic experience. The research has not yet proven itself.
Again, as with the case of emotional-social intelligence AI does not possess a 'sense of self and self-awareness', and thus does not possess a soul, an autonomous sense of being that transcends our sensual/material existence.
Thus I predict that in the dry-mechanical-robotic world of AI, a person who does not purposively develop his 'soul, a transcendent-existential meaning in his life' will be most likely destined to live a very 'dry, shallow, desiccated' personal existence.
The Torah perspective on spiritual intelligence
As opposed to the strictly materialistic -robotic essence of AI, the Torah teaches that our 'humanity', our 'image of G-d' will be based on the amount of spirituality in our lives. And this spirituality is derived from the essential spiritual essence of our Creator, G-d himself.
And, in his Wisdom, G-d gave His Jewish people the instruments of mitzvot, Torah wisdom and prayer, so we can to use the materialism of this G-d created world in order to build a transcending ,redeeming relationship with our Creator.
Thus our spiritual relationship with G-d will become the major source of our 'sense of humanness' in AI's robotic, materialistic world..
Summary
Technology is exploiting us more than we are exploiting technology.
More specifically AI and social media are making us 'dumber and number' (state of interpersonal numbness). The antidote is parenting (enhancing family and community relationships) and praying (enhancing our relationship with the spiritually transcendent Divine)
More specifically, research shows that the internet and social media has greatly eroded the depth of our relationships with social frameworks 'outside ourselves', such as marriage, family, community and even social relationship at the work place. Because of technology we have been incessantly 'seduced', into leading lonely autonomous lives. Inevitably AI will greatly accelerate this trend.
Parenting and prayer will be the most effective methods of curbing AI's inevitable side effects of creating lonely, autonomous lives.
In one sentence, in many cases AI will be able to 'out think us' but it will never be able to 'out parent us' or to 'out pray us'. Thank G-d.