Legendary Jewish Wisdom and Artificial Intelligence

BY MARC DWECK

---

In the shadowy alleys of sixteenth-century Prague, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as the Maharal, crafted a colossal figure from the clay of the Vltava River. Through mystical incantations and the inscription of divine names, he brought this figure, the golem, to life. According to legend, a sacred shem, God’s holy name, was inscribed in the golem’s mouth to animate it, transforming the lifeless clay into a towering sentinel named Yossele. Tasked with protecting the Jewish ghetto from relentless persecution, Yossele patrolled the streets of Prague, invisible to enemies and invincible in strength. 

To honor the sanctity of the Sabbath, the Maharal would deactivate his golem each week by removing its shem on Friday. But one fateful week, in his haste, he forgot this vital step. Without the sacred name removed, Yossele grew wild and uncontrollable, his immense power threatening to spiral into destruction. The golem, untamed and unmanageable, threatened to wreak havoc. In a desperate struggle, the Maharal removed the sacred shem from Yossele’s mouth, causing the golem to collapse into lifeless clay, its mission of protection forever etched in the annals of legend.       

In the intricate landscape of technological creation, few metaphors resonate as powerfully as the Golem of Prague, a classic example of the “Frankenstein Complex”—the profound fear that humanity’s inventions might one day rebel against their creators. The story illustrates humanity’s drive to use ingenuity to create artificial beings for protection and aid, often overlooking the potential for unintended consequences. The concept of the golem originates from Jewish folklore, particularly from the mystical traditions of Kabbalah. The golem is described as an artificial being created from inanimate matter, typically clay or mud, and brought to life through the use of Hebrew letters and divine names to protect the Jewish community and perform tasks as instructed. 

Despite its animation, the golem lacks true consciousness or free will. The stories of the golem often serve as cautionary tales, highlighting the limits and risks of human creation. These narratives warn of the potential dangers of creating without understanding or contemplating the full implications of our work, emphasizing the ethical and moral responsibilities that come with creation-like power. The golem stories remind us that while human ingenuity can achieve remarkable feats, it must always be tempered with wisdom and humility.

In 1958, Frank Rosenblatt became perhaps the first Jew to conjure a golem since the Maharal. Rosenblatt, a psychologist at Cornell and researcher for the U.S. Navy, called his creation the Perceptron. The New York Times proclaimed, “New Navy Device Learns by Doing: Psychologist Shows Embryo of Computer Designed to Read and Grow Wiser.” The Perceptron was the first working example of an artificial neuron which could learn on its own. Rosenblatt’s achievement was one of the seminal breakthroughs that paved the way for today’s sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT.

Many other Jewish intellectual pioneers contributed key discoveries without which our modern-day AI revolution could not have been. Marvin Minsky co-founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AI Laboratory and advanced the field through his work on neural networks, robotics, and the theory of knowledge representation. Judea Pearl’s work on probabilistic reasoning and Bayesian networks has been instrumental in advancing machine learning and AI. Herbert A. Simon won the Turing Award and a Nobel Prize for his work in artificial intelligence, economics, and cognitive psychology, including co-developing the Logic Theory Machine and the General Problem Solver (GPS), which were foundational in AI research. Simon also conducted trailblazing work on bounded rationality and satisficing, which revolutionized our understanding of decision-making processes. 

Noam Shazeer was one of the lead authors of the paper “Attention Is All You Need,” which introduced the deep learning concept of the “transformer,” without which modern large language models like ChatGPT would not work. Ilya Sustkever co-developed AlexNet which was the first practical and successful application of a deep convolutional neural network in a large-scale image recognition task, whose success paved the way for the widespread adoption of deep learning techniques in various fields. He is possibly most famous for co-founding OpenAI and at one point trying to fire his co-founder and fellow Jewish AI pioneer Sam Altman.

As we delve deeper into the evolution of AI, it is intriguing to consider whether the Jewish intellectual giants who founded modern AI were familiar with the cautionary tales of the golem. The warnings embedded in these stories are strikingly relevant to the future of AI. Contemporary artificial intelligence systems, much like the mythical golem, execute complex tasks with remarkable precision yet fundamentally lack genuine consciousness or self-awareness. They operate within predefined parameters, and execute instructions with computational efficiency but without the nuanced understanding that characterizes human cognition. 

The golem tales caution against the hubris of creation without foresight, a lesson that is increasingly pertinent as we push the boundaries of AI technology. Scholars currently debate whether modern AI models such as GPT-4 are advancing at such a rapid pace that they will soon become indistinguishable from human intelligence. These advancements amplify the risks highlighted in the golem narratives. Understanding these stories can provide valuable insights into the ethical considerations and potential risks associated with AI development.

Jewish intellectual and communal traditions offer a unique lens through which to view technological innovation. The Talmudic tradition of rigorous debate and critical analysis encourages a multifaceted approach to complex problems. The practice of chavruta—collaborative learning involving intense dialogue and mutual questioning—embodies an approach to knowledge that prioritizes collective wisdom. Further, the weekly observance of Shabbat represents a deliberate pause for reflection, a moment to step back from creative endeavors to contemplate their broader implications.

These scholarly traditions propose a model of development rooted in continuous reflection, ethical deliberation, and a deep awareness of potential consequences—principles that are highly applicable to discussions surrounding artificial intelligence. They challenge the notion of innovation as a unilateral act, instead presenting it as a collaborative, thoughtful process that requires ongoing dialogue and critical examination. This approach is particularly relevant in today’s world, where rapid technological advancements often outpace our ability to fully understand their effect on society.

Perhaps by appreciating the Jewish tradition of taking pause, questioning ideas, and fostering collaborative conversations, we can ensure that future innovations are more likely to avoid the pitfalls highlighted in the cautionary tales of the golem, ensuring that our most advanced creations are guided not merely by what is possible, but by what is responsible.