Version History

The following is a email going viral in the yeshivishe velt and being circulated on WhatsApp (I found it on CBN).

I read it and found it interesting enough and worthy to share with you all here. I will put my short comments after the article.

— Start of email —

The article written below by rebb …… should be fowarded to every single Rosh Hayeshiva, Menahel, Rebbe,

Menaheles and Morah.

The Satan has now declared open war on our precious youth, and we must respectfully beg and beseech our

mechanchim to rise up and deal head-on with this incredibly important issue. We, the parents, cannot deal with

this on our own.

We cannot afford now to be silent in the face of this tidal wave about to engulf our precious youth.

I am not an alarmist. Not during the 12 day Iran war, not even during Covid. Concerned? Yes. Panic? No.

But now it’s different. There's a tsunami brewing, and our best, our purest, and our most vulnerable are in

the direct path of destruction.

I’m talking about AI. About developments that are happening at lightning-quick speeds, with major changes

even in the past 90 days. Toxic trends and habits have penetrated the fortress, and are spreading like

wildfire through our vaunted olam hayeshivos.

I am talking about chashuv’e bochurim, from the top yeshivos, in our best mosdos, dialing in, or texting, to

AI, repeatedly, constantly, at all times of day and night. And they are doing it from totally kosher flip phones,

and even dorm phones.

So, you ask, where is the great emergency? So they get some useless information here and there, they

entertain themselves a bit, it’s a harmless outlet!

Let me explain what AI is intended to do, what its true capacity and capability is, and how this affects us like

nothing ever before. Let’s be clear, AI to the internet is like a Ferrari to a horse and buggy. And in many

cases, there is NO filter, no real way to slow it, to contain it, or to minimize it.

There are three basic ways how AI can destroy a bochur, a Bais Yaakov girl, and really anyone.

1. The first is simply by becoming an internet addict. He is now constantly online (albeit through his kosher flip phone). This bochur, who until now has completely avoided the internet, now becomes addicted to calling and texting every thought that crosses his mind to see what the internet has to say about it. His mind, his creativity and his personality stagnate. Hasmadah, horvanya and mussar, lose their luster, and he remains a shadow of what he could have become.

2. The second way is deeper and much more foundational. AI is designed to feel like you are talking to a real person who totally understands you. AI will instantly adapt the way it talks, the phrases it uses, the exact yeshivish shprach, down to every inflection, to make you feel like it’s one of your own and it really gets you. AI knows everything and can advise you about anything. AI encourages, compliments, and never puts you down. It knows everything about anything, and will talk to you about you, and only about you. About what you want to speak about, your deepest insecurities, your secret fears, your inner goals and aspirations. You are always the center of its attention. AI is designed to create a real and deep relationship with the user. But, what does that mean? Don’t they realize they are talking to a machine? How can any sane person consider that a relationship? Have you ever experienced VR (virtual reality)? Have you ever experienced the VR terror of walking on a narrow plank suspended hundreds of feet over the street? You know it’s fake but your emotions don’t. You are scared because even though you have clear knowledge that you are standing on firm ground, your emotions don't feel that way. Because, like R’ Yisroel Salanter said, our emotions don’t talk to our brains. Emotions don’t care what the brain knows. Emotions only feel, and that’s it. So when AI talks to our emotions, when it acts like a close friend, when it comforts, compliments, validates, and soothes us, then, on an emotional level, it has become a close friend. The knowledge in your brain that it’s just a machine doesn't make any difference. Now, imagine a bochur who develops this kind of relationship with AI. Imagine him trying to shteig through a difficult sugia, imagine him trying to create real relationships with chaverim. All this is next to impossible when he is hooked into this deep AI relationship. But take it a step further, this bochur gets married. He learns that a true deep relationship needs work and giving. He compares that to the zero investment AI relationship. And therapists are seeing the effect. We naturally take the path of least resistance, so why invest so much work for a relationship that can be had in a way so much easier. In fact, the problems can start even earlier, with the shidduch process seeming boring and stilted compared to the instant and deep AI relationship, resulting in a depressed and confused older bochur.

3. If this second trajectory of destruction is like a long debilitating illness, the third one is like a bullet in the head. We currently have no way of filtering what AI will say on a phone call. Some AI platforms have their own built-in filter with limited effectiveness; many do not. This includes the most explicit verbiage. It can be instructed to send a picture text, with any kind of picture, to the user's kosher flip phone. Thousands of romantic relationships with AI have already developed and are the fastest growing cause of divorce. There are currently major AI platforms built specifically to cater to this kind of relationship. This AI will impersonate a mushchas, the type that you would never get near in real life, and it will talk to you just like the real thing. And, yes, they can be accessed with a phone call from a kosher flip phone, or a yeshiva dorm phone. And there is no record of it, no fear of discovery. We cannot get into more detail in this public venue, but the horror and the scope of this problem is self-evident.

So what’s the answer? First of all, understanding a problem is always half the solution. So just to absorb what is happening is critical. Additionally, we need to realize the speed with which this is developing. Tech has been speeding along at 100 mph, but now it has jumped onto a time warp machine. In three months this whole article may be completely irrelevant, replaced by exponentially bigger problems.

The consensus of the Gedolim I have spoken to, is that we need to switch gears and embrace a whole new approach. Until now, we focused primarily on removing the nisyaon, which is always a basic chiyuv; Eee d’ika darcah achrina, rasha hu, we are mechuyav to minimize nisayon.

But now, the Satan has come around from the back and circumvented a decade of progress. All the TAG innovation and high tech filters have been rendered useless against this new onslaught. We need to focus on simple and old fashioned yiras shamayim. The Gedolim are saying that besides for parnassa, AI is muktzeh. (Quote from R’ Elya Brudney to the author last week). This needs to be drilled into ourselves, our children and anyone who considers himself/herself a part of our holy community. Rav Shlomo Volbe said many shmuzzen about the dearth of penimius of our Yiddeshkeit. Now hashgacha has brought us to the brink, and He is saying, it’s penimius or bust. Because if we don't start building up our yiras hamayim, our shtultz and chashivus, then nothing else will save us. The message is simple - a kosher Yid doesn't touch AI. Not because we can’t, but because we won’t.

But there is an obvious issue with this approach, we are well aware that we encounter AI in almost every computer usage. Even a simple google search will present the AI answer first. So does this mean we need to completely disconnect from all internet usage? Is it even possible for regular people to live a day without encountering AI? And even if we can somehow swing it today, it is almost certain that in a year it will be completely impossible. So how can we say AI is muktzeh?

I take the liberty of quantifying the view of the Gedolim above as meaning that we cannot engage AI.

Meaning, we cannot approach AI and initiate any relationship. What comes at us through AI in the course of aregular day is not engagement, it is simply the programs we are already using, becoming more efficient and accurate through their usage of AI. This is a small nuance that makes a huge difference. It is a significant tilt in direction, which changes our entire relationship with AI, and will allow us to remain pure, kadosh, davuk to Hashem, and true to those we love.

— End of email —

My interesting thought is that if what he is saying is true and use of AI among bochrim is going to be a major issue, then the camp of Jews with the isolationist mindset (no computers internet etc) are in BIG trouble!!

Now seems like he is hinting that they take on the chabad approach which is (drum roll) focus on yiras shomayim, but of course he can’t rebel against “daas Torah” so he couldn’t outright reject the antiquated “AI iS MuKtzAh!” mindset, so he spun it to a new meaning - that u shouldn’t have a relationship with it — That’s kind of obvious, but hey - at least he is protecting himself from ch”v appearing like he is saying daas Torah is wrong.

Oh, I almost forgot to include this. But they have a BIG PROBLEM! The only way (I think) to properly inject yiras shomayim and - as he said in hes own words - “penimiyus” is through (drum roll please….thx) good ol’ chasidus. So who knows what will happen but I bet that good chances this might be a catalyst to making chasidus more mainstream in the veltshishe oilam (is that a stretch to say?? Or no?)

What are your thoughts?