Lawsuits are in progress about whether AI developers infringe on the rights of content creators when training models on copyrighted material. If my book, Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Faith in the Internet Era, is among the trillions of...
I. Military Encampments in Halachah With the recent stunning military success in Israel’s initial attack on Iran, it is an opportunity to celebrate the Israeli Air Force by examining one aspect of its halachic significance. The Torah has special laws...
I. A Time for War Early morning last Friday, Israel attacked Iran in a multi-pronged effort that was wildly successful in its initial stages and we pray will continue to succeed. Koheles (3:6) notwithstanding, there is never a good...
Hospitals, airports and universities often include interfaith chapels which are intended to accommodate individuals of all faiths for individual or group prayer. This religious accommodation raises an important question: May a Jew pray in a room that also houses non-Jewish worship, potentially...
The complex nature of halachah leads to multiple opinions on various issues — expert judgment often varies. We expect that two scholars who legitimately disagree still respect each other’s right to an opinion. If I eat a certain food...
I. AI Authorship Is it permissible to study Torah from a sefer, a text of Torah scholarship, written by artificial intelligence (AI)? There are different ways an AI could author a sefer. For our purposes, we can divide authorship...
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) raises new and sometimes unexpected halachic questions. Among them is whether it is permissible to teach Torah to an AI. On the one hand, what could be wrong with it? After all,...
Recent technological developments have enabled the creation of increasingly lifelike AI-powered companions, ranging from chatbots to humanoid robots. As usual, technology continues to progress without consideration of ethics. While these developments hold potential therapeutic benefits for individuals experiencing loneliness, they also can...
I. AI Interfaces One of the most persistent motifs in science fiction is the Frankenstein plot: a human creates a machine, which then becomes independent and ultimately turns against its creator. The underlying question is one of responsibility — who...
I. Golem and Minyan We are witnessing a major transformation of information and technology with the growth of artificial intelligence (AI). To my frustration, much of the Jewish discourse on AI begins—and often ends—with the halachic status of a...