(יג) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לְאַבְרָ֗ם יָדֹ֨עַ תֵּדַ֜ע כִּי־גֵ֣ר ׀ יִהְיֶ֣ה זַרְעֲךָ֗ בְּאֶ֙רֶץ֙ לֹ֣א לָהֶ֔ם וַעֲבָד֖וּם וְעִנּ֣וּ אֹתָ֑ם אַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃ (יד) וְגַ֧ם אֶת־הַגּ֛וֹי אֲשֶׁ֥ר יַעֲבֹ֖דוּ דָּ֣ן אָנֹ֑כִי וְאַחֲרֵי־כֵ֥ן יֵצְא֖וּ בִּרְכֻ֥שׁ גָּדֽוֹל׃ (טו) וְאַתָּ֛ה תָּב֥וֹא אֶל־אֲבֹתֶ֖יךָ בְּשָׁל֑וֹם תִּקָּבֵ֖ר בְּשֵׂיבָ֥ה טוֹבָֽה׃ (טז) וְד֥וֹר רְבִיעִ֖י יָשׁ֣וּבוּ הֵ֑נָּה כִּ֧י לֹא־שָׁלֵ֛ם עֲוֺ֥ן הָאֱמֹרִ֖י עַד־הֵֽנָּה׃
(13) And He said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years; (14) but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth. (15) As for you, You shall go to your fathers in peace; You shall be buried at a ripe old age. (16) And they shall return here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
מתני׳ שור שהוא מועד למינו ואינו מועד לשאינו מינו מועד לאדם ואינו מועד לבהמה מועד לקטנים ואינו מועד לגדולים את שהוא מועד לו משלם נזק שלם ואת שאינו מועד לו משלם חצי נזק
MISHNA: With regard to an ox that is forewarned with regard to its own species, if the ox gores the type of animal or person with regard to which it is forewarned, its owner pays the full cost of the damage, and if it gores an animal or person with regard to which it is not forewarned, he pays half the cost of the damage.
Say you’re behind a truck and something large and heavy falls off of it. You’re in an autonomous vehicle, which is programmed to be so responsive that it can brake in time to avoid the object. The catch is that there's a human-driven vehicle tailgating you.
If your self-driving car stops suddenly, the human-driven car will likely rear end you. But if the self-driving car breaks slowly, so the person can stop too, you’re at greater risk of hitting the object.
(AI Who Is Responsible" by Rabbi Rosenberg")
What is the self-driving car likely to do?
Who is responsible for the decision the car makes?
(17) You shall not allow a sorceress to live
Chacham Tzvi (Rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi of Amsterdam, 1656 – 1718) writes that his ancestor, Rav Eliyahu Ba’al Shem of Chelm (1550 – 1583) created a human-like being (a golem) using the Sefer Yetzirah. The Chacham Tzvi’s son, Rav Yakov Emden (Altona 1697 – 1776) writes[23] that, eventually Rav Eliyahu decided to deactivate the golem. So, he removed the name of G-d which he had placed in the golem’s forehead. But as he was doing this, the golem fought back and scratched Rabbi Eliyahu on his forehead.
Chacham Tzvi wonders if a golem can be counted for a minyan. On the one hand, only a Jew may be counted for a minyan and a golem is not a Jew. On the other hand, since a golem is created by a tzadik and the actions of a tzadik are considered their progeny, perhaps they should be considered like a child of a Jew. This can be compared to the teaching of the Talmud[24] that one who rears an orphan in their home is considered to have birthed them.
Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt: I wouldn’t trust ChatGPT for a halachic pesak.
When it comes to pesak halachah, the relationship is critical. The rav has to know the individual asking the question. There are many considerations that are taken into account when rendering a halachic decision. Is the questioner wealthy? Is he poor? Will the halachic decision impact a couple’s shalom bayit, et cetera?
Rabbi Hershel Schachter recalls that his rebbi, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, would sometimes be asked the same she’eilah twice in one day and would give two different answers. Rabbi Schachter explains that the Rav understood the individual’s personal situation, and therefore the halachah for that person was X. For the second individual, whose circumstances didn’t allow for that leniency, the halachah was Y.
It’s not that the halachah changes willy-nilly, but it allows for factors other than objective data to be taken into consideration. The halachah of the beit midrash, that is, the theoretical halachah, will always be the same. But its application will depend upon various factors.
One of the best uses that I can see for AI right now is in data gathering. If one wants to study, for example, the halachot of Ya’aleh V’yavo, AI can be a phenomenal gatherer of information. It can provide you with a listing of all the sources on the subject and can even cite the full text of all of the relevant responsa. Many sefarim may be familiar to you; other sefarim you may not even recognize or have at your disposal. In this scenario, the purpose is not to pasken halachah (render halachic decisions), but to use AI as a tool for information gathering.
As AI matures, the potential for it playing more of a role in pesak halachah may change as well.
("AI Meets Halacha" by Jewish Action Magazine)