Will Jewish Tradition Adapt to AI?

I thank Chaim Saiman, David Zvi Kalman, and L.M. Sacasas for their thoughtful responses to my essay.

I infer from each of the responses that at least one aspect of my essay bears clarification. I posited that certain central features of the Jewish tradition might serve to protect Jewish communities and individuals from some of the potential dangers of AI, but that this would require that Jewish tradition adapt successfully to rapidly changing circumstances. Some of the concerns raised by all three respondents could be addressed through a brief elaboration on my views regarding the adaptiveness of Jewish tradition—specifically, halakhah, Jewish law.

In Darwinian evolution, mutations are random and those relatively few mutations that improve the ability to reproduce in a given environment will eventually proliferate. In cultural evolution, the role of random mutations is played by deliberate innovations, some of which help a culture to flourish and some of which fail. It’s hard to know in advance which are which because societies are delicate organisms and it’s not easy to anticipate which innovations will lead to unintended harmful consequences.