The re-humanizing project: A Jewish response to artificial intelligence

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in eJewishPhilanthropy on April 29, 2025.

We live in a world that is increasingly intertwined with Artificial Intelligence, a technology that is reshaping our lives in ways we could have never imagined. From self-driving cars to virtual assistants, Artificial Intelligence is altering the fabric of our society, presenting us with opportunities and dilemmas alike. As we gather here today, let us consider the teachings of our Jewish tradition and how they might guide our understanding and approach to Artificial Intelligence. 

Echoing the wisdom of Maimonides, who wrote, “The highest degree of wisdom is benevolence,” we shall delve into the ethical framework necessary to ensure that the incredible advancements in Artificial Intelligence align with our core values as Jews and compassionate human beings.

In a paper written in the 1950s, English mathematician and forefather of modern computer science Alan Turing proposed a way to determine whether a machine can think: A man sits in a room, passing notes back and forth under the door with an unknown respondent, and the man tries to determine if the responses were written by a human or a computer. According to Turing, a machine could be said to think if it was consistently mistaken for a human. 

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