Like Silicon from Clay

<p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p>