By Rabbi Gil Student

Artificial intelligence can now perform sophisticated tasks that once required substantial human effort. Its rapid adoption and ongoing development promise enormous benefits while raising concerns about human responsibility and dependence on technology. Should Jews embrace AI or should we be wary of its growing capabilities?

I. Hashem’s World Is Ours to Develop

The Torah describes human beings as created in Hashem’s image and commands us to “fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). This command grants humanity authority to harness natural forces and develop the world through intelligence and creativity. Rav Ya’akov Ariel (cont., Israel) explains this responsibility through Rabbi Akiva’s encounter with Turnus Rufus (Tanchuma, Tazria 5). The Roman official asks which are superior: Hashem’s creations or human creations. Rabbi Akiva responds by comparing stalks of wheat with finished bread. Human labor transforms the wheat into something more useful. Rav Ariel understands this as demonstrating that Hashem expects humanity to improve creation (Halachah Be-Yameinu, pp. 139–140). The Torah describes Hashem’s work as “asher bara Elokim la’asos, that Hashem created to do” (Gen. 2:3), which the Sages understand as a world requiring further human action (Bereishis Rabbah 11:5). We fulfill this mandate through our creative activity.

Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the Beis Ha-Levi (19th cen., Belarus), develops a similar idea in his commentary to Lech Lecha (Gen. 17:1). Hashem’s name Sha-dai reflects His declaration of “Enough!” to creation (Bereishis Rabbah 46:2). Hashem could have created wheat that naturally develops into bread and flax that becomes clothing. Instead, He deliberately stopped these processes before completion, leaving humanity to finish them.

His great-grandson, Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik (20th cen., US), describes Adam I, meaning Adam as he appears in the first chapter of Bereishis, as the majestic personality who fulfills Hashem’s command to subdue the earth through scientific discovery and technological mastery. Such accomplishments express the dignity of human beings created in Hashem’s image (The Lonely Man of Faith, part I, sec. D). Artificial intelligence represents an especially impressive exercise of this creative capacity, with potential benefits in almost every area of life.

However, you can object from the prohibition against kilayim, the mixing of species. Ramban (13th cen., Israel), commenting on Lev. 19:19, explains that combining species interferes with Hashem’s established natural order. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (19th cen., Germany) similarly understands certain commandments as forbidding us from disturbing the integrity of creation (The Nineteen Letters, no. 11; Horeb, no. 327). These views might offer a note of caution before introducing something as radical as AI into daily life.

However, Rav J. David Bleich (cont., US) argues that even if these explanations are accepted, specific prohibitions cannot establish a universal ban against changing nature (Judaism and Healing, pp. 135– 141). Indeed, Ramban himself recognizes humanity’s broad authority to develop creation (commentary to Gen. 1:28). Rav Ariel likewise emphasizes that we cannot impose prohibitions the Torah did not establish.

AI’s ability to perform impressive tasks therefore does not make its development an improper interference with creation. It represents another application of humanity’s divinely-given intelligence.

II. Beyond the Letter of the Law

Even when halachah permits an activity, does that mean we should pursue it? Just because something can be done does not mean that it should be done. Rav Yitzchak Shilat (cont., Israel) develops a distinction learned from Rav Gedaliah Nadel (20th cen., Israel). The reason for a commandment, the ta’am ha-mitzvah, explains why Hashem issued it. Its underlying idea, the ra’ayon ha-mitzvah, identifies the core of what the Torah commands us to implement. Understanding that idea helps determine the commandment’s halachic scope beyond its mere technical parameters. We must observe the letter of the law while remaining attentive to the values expressed through its commandments. Rav Ariel develops a related distinction in Halachah Be-Yameinu (pp. 140–141). He explains that humanity must complete creation without distorting it. Innovation that corrects deficiencies or prevents suffering serves a constructive purpose. Creating something new merely because it is possible may be undesirable.

He compares technological progress to driving a car. We should take advantage of modern transportation while retaining control and knowing when to apply the brakes. Similarly, AI’s capabilities should be evaluated according to their purposes and consequences.

III. The Risks of Artificial Intelligence

One danger of AI is that it may weaken the intellectual abilities it was designed to assist. Rav Ariel writes elsewhere that advanced technology and scientific knowledge must serve humanity without taking its place. He warns against allowing technology to become a golem that rises against its creator (Halachah Be-Yameinu, p. 124).

AI can help professionals automate complex tasks and solve difficult problems. Yet someone who routinely accepts AI-generated conclusions without understanding them may gradually lose the habit of independent analysis. Technology should strengthen human judgment while leaving responsibility for important decisions with human beings.

Rav Yisrael Rozen (21st cen., Israel) is concerned about the devaluation of human worth. He interprets the Tower of Babel as a warning about technological arrogance. The builders initially achieved something useful by manufacturing bricks as substitutes for natural stone. Their success eventually encouraged an ambition to challenge heaven (Be-Chatzros Beis Hashem, pp. 132–135). Rav Rozen cites Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (ch. 24), which describes the builders mourning a fallen brick while ignoring the death of a worker. Their technological project had become more important than the people carrying it out. AI presents a similar danger when efficiency and competition take precedence over human welfare. Workers may be displaced without sufficient consideration of their circumstances and human relationships may be replaced by automated interactions simply because machines are cheaper.

Another danger is spiritual. Rav Rozen highlights the emotional influence of technology. Technological power can encourage people to feel overly powerful and increasingly independent of Hashem. The Tower of Babel illustrates how human achievement can become a source of arrogance. AI may intensify this temptation as machines perform increasingly impressive tasks. Yet greater technological capability does not necessarily produce greater wisdom or moral development.

IV. Technology in the Service of Faith

Rav Rozen explicitly rejects withdrawing from technological civilization. He instead advocates harnessing its achievements for constructive religious purposes, invoking Moshe’s declaration, “For we must take of it to serve the Lord our G-d” (Ex. 10:26). Technology can inspire religious wonder. Rambam (12th cen., Egypt) explains that contemplating Hashem’s extraordinary creations inspires love and awe of Him (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Yesodei Ha-Torah 2:2). Rav Rozen extends this principle to technological achievements, which reveal the remarkable possibilities embedded in creation and humanity’s capacity to discover them. Rav Rozen concludes with Rav Avraham Kook (20th cen., Israel), who explains in “The Shofar and the Trumpets” that the shofar symbolizes nature while the trumpets represent human technology. Both belong within religious life when directed toward divine service and improving the human condition. AI can similarly become a means of improving human life while inspiring gratitude for the intelligence Hashem granted humanity.

V. Conclusion

Jewish tradition offers substantial grounds for embracing artificial intelligence. Hashem created a world that human beings are expected to develop, and technological creativity is an expression of that responsibility. AI is therefore a fulfillment of an important part of the human mission.

However, permission to develop and use AI leaves us responsible for evaluating its applications. We must ask whether it strengthens our abilities or weakens them, whether it serves people or subordinates them to technological objectives and whether its benefits in specific applications justify its consequences. Technical possibility and halachic permissibility cannot be our only standards.

Hashem gave humanity the intelligence to create extraordinary technologies. He also gave us the responsibility to decide when and how to employ them. Our task is to innovate and expand responsibly, finishing the work Hashem left incomplete while remembering that He, too, knew when to say “Enough.”