Rabbi Ben Newman reflects on the strong reactions to his book AI for Clergy: Harnessing the Power of the Digital Golem, which explores AI’s role in spiritual leadership, community organization, and sacred service. He notes that responses ranged from warm curiosity to sharp critique, underscoring how deeply AI touches people’s hopes, fears, and ethical concerns — especially when framed in the evocative metaphor of the “digital golem,” a modern analogue to the Jewish legend of a crafted being that can be both protector and danger. The author hadn’t fully anticipated how personal and intense some critiques of AI use — particularly in religious contexts — would be.
Newman explains that the critiques he received often came from a place of safeguarding dignity and tradition, with some colleagues questioning whether any rabbi should use AI for sermon writing or other sacred functions. Some critics saw generative AI as plagiarism or intellectual theft, while others worried about environmental cost or the risk of clergy abdicating their responsibilities to machines. These concerns reflect broader ethical debates about human creativity, authorship, and technological influence on what many consider sacred work.
The blog frames AI as a mirror of human intention and anxiety, not just a neutral tool. AI’s controversial reception in this context echoes long-standing themes in the ethics of artificial intelligence, which grapple with issues like agency, value alignment, accountability, and the risk of dehumanization when machines make or shape meaningful outputs. Ethical frameworks for AI emphasize the need for human oversight, moral context, and responsible use, rather than relying solely on automated generation of texts or decisions that have social, cultural, or spiritual significance.
Newman’s reflection illustrates how cultural and religious traditions can inform the conversation around AI ethics, suggesting that ancient concerns — like the Jewish golem story, where a created being can escape its maker’s control — still resonate in today’s debates. Just as the golem legend warns about unintended consequences of human creation, contemporary AI ethics underscores the importance of imbuing technology with human values, reflection, and accountability rather than outsourcing judgment or meaning to opaque systems.
