Geneivat Da'at
How I use AI
Generative AI is a powerful tool that requires discipline and discernment. I'm committed to using it ethically, responsibly, and transparently — and I advocate for thoughtful adoption, not avoidance.
Why I use it
AI can do things I can't do at all, do them better than I can, or do them faster than I can. It turns my ideas, imaginations, and Torah into things other people can read, listen to, or use. It's opened up possibilities I never expected to have. Without AI, none of it would make it out of the cognitive fog; it's the light that helps me find my way through.
Geneivat Da'atTheft of the mind
Jewish law prohibits misrepresentation and deceptive conduct. For me, in the context of AI, that means transparency: clearly labeling generative content and being open about how I use AI in my work and life.
Where it helps
Research and brainstorming. AI finds and summarizes large amounts of information faster than I ever could, filtering out the noise and surfacing what I need. It helps guide my thinking when brain fog is working overtime, and helps me organize scattered thoughts into a coherent structure. It also helps with day-to-day problems — walking me through household chores and maintenance, sewing, crochet, and cooking.
Programming. I've spent a lifetime in technology, IT management, and programming. AI has transformed how I work in this field — it does most of my coding and helps me architect technical solutions.
Writing. I'm neurodivergent and live with cognitive challenges, including Long COVID, which makes writing genuinely hard. I use AI to move faster, explore ideas, and act as my editor — taking the scattered pieces in my head and helping me put them together into something whole.
Music. I write my own lyrics — I love doing it, and it's how I express my emotions and joy — with AI's help on rhyme, phrasing, and structure. I can't write melodies, play instruments, or sing, though, so I turn to AI to set my words to music.
Graphics. I use AI to generate some graphics for my projects. Sometimes I use them as-is; often I heavily edit and modify them further.
What AI does not do for me
AI does not do my thinking.
I am creative, I am thoughtful, I am analytical. AI can't be any of that for me. It also can't contain me, my Torah, my personality, my sparkle — those are all mine. I own the ideas, the perspective, the arguments, and the conclusions — the essence that is my Torah.
Da'atDiscernment
Jewish tradition treats da'at — discernment, the exercise of judgment rather than passive acceptance — as central to being. A tool doesn't get to make that judgment for me. AI isn't a person, and it isn't capable of ethical or moral consciousness.
I don't think AI is neutral, and I don't think enthusiasm excuses carelessness. Being an advocate for a tool means being honest about its edges.
My AI fences
Transparent. I acknowledge my use of AI, in all the ways I use it, and disclose it on the content itself — through captions or similar notes.
I do the thinking. AI doesn't supply my positions or my conclusions. If the thought came from the machine, the thought doesn't go out under my name.
Fact-checking. AI tools state wrong things with total confidence. In Jewish learning especially, where the source matters as much as the claim, an invented citation does more damage than no citation at all. I go and look.
It doesn't replace people. It isn't my teacher, my chevruta, or my community. It's a tool that helps me show up to all three.
I'm accountable for the output. "The AI wrote it" isn't a defense. If I published it, I answer for it.
Why I am an AI maggid
Maggidim were Jewish storytellers who wandered wherever Jews lived, teaching in marketplaces and anywhere else people gathered. They carried Torah out to the people: sometimes as fire-and-brimstone sermons, more often as soulful tales that revived Judaism and the communities living it.
I have embraced my role, my future, as a leader guiding, teaching, and encouraging Jewish communities and individuals to build a new Jewish world that carries the ancient essence into modern realities. As part of this work, I have an opportunity to help others see how transformative AI can be for them and guide them in using it safely, ethically, and responsibly, bringing AI to our communities in ways much like the maggidim of times past.
I believe AI is transformational in a positive way. Used ethically and responsibly, it helps us grow as individuals and communities. AI is making our texts more accessible to everyone, providing translations, gathering commentaries, and summarizing our sages' words. AI is helping researchers reconstruct damaged, unreadable artifacts and find connections within our tradition missed for generations. AI is also opening new doors for people living with disabilities, helping with cognitive load, creating new avenues for communication, and giving a literal voice to those who never before had one. All of this makes our spaces, our communities, and ourselves radically inclusive.