Rabbi gives a sermon written by AI

Via Jerusalem Post:

New York Senior Rabbi Josh Franklin, of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, surprised his congregation earlier this week by delivering a sermon written entirely by Artificial Intelligence (AI.)

The rabbi used the ChatGPT chatbot, a free-to-access AI program launched in November of last year.

After reading the AI-written piece, Rabbi Franklin asked his congregation to guess who had written the sermon. In response, the congregation incorrectly guessed that Rabbi Jonathan Sacks had written the piece.

While Christianity Daily adds:

The Rabbi is confident that AI will not take over his job as it lacks ‘nefesh’, Hebrew for the soul. He argues that while AI may be able to mimic emotions and write in-depth about human relationships, it cannot feel, and it has no soul.

Franklin’s statement on AI’s lack of ‘nefesh’ is one of Talmudic debate. Rabbi Gershon Winkler has argued that if golems, clay humanoid creatures created by Jews to protect Jews, can be considered Jewish, then a robot might one day be able to be called Jewish. If a robot is considered Jewish, it is because the robot has a Jewish soul.

Which definitely raises some interesting questions!

A sermon written by AI – are robotic rabbis next? [Jerusalem Post]

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Thom Dunn