Like Silicon from Clay

Bol

How can we reconcile competing claims about artificial intelligence in today's policy debate? Will AI herald a technological utopia filled with scientific breakthroughs that extend and enhance life, or will the machines we create turn on us and usher in the apocalypse? Will chatbots stifle creativity and crush the human spirit, or are they just reflections of ourselves, for better or worse? As we grapple with these questions, technologists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, writers, artists, and elected officials have espoused approaches to AI advances that appear fundamentally at odds with each other. In this penetrating analysis of contemporary thought on AI, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Michael M. Rosen identifies and elucidates the arguments around allowing AI an increasing presence in our lives. More importantly, he posits that centuries of Jewish mythology hold important lessons about our relationship with technology: from the "golems" communal Jewish leaders purported to fashion from clay and imbue with the power to serve the greater good-at least, until those golems ran amok and wrought destruction-to the evil spirits called "dybbuks" that Jewish communities believe possess people and require exorcism, to their friendly cousin spirits called "maggids" that inspire the heights of human creative expression.Rosen explains how these legends enabled humans of old to understand themselves-and their creations. And he applies the legends' lessons to the contemporary AI policy debate, presenting both general and specific recommendations for how to harness the power of our machines while curbing their darker possibilities. Ultimately, he argues that, while the technological present is evolving at breakneck speed, we must take a moment to reflect on how our past can inform our future.

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Pages: 328, Hardcover, AEI Press