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“My background is in moral philosophy and ethics. (I’ve) spent most of my career doing work in ethics, primarily in a healthcare environment as a clinical ethicist, doing clinical research and more recently focusing on AI ethics. I’m also a primary care physician who’s taken care of patients for several decades.
I’m (also) someone who has spent my life immersed in the Jewish tradition and rooted in Jewish literature and traditional rabbinic literature and Jewish texts and Jewish values. There’s different kinds of frameworks in terms of thinking about AI.
When we think about the healthcare side of things, I’m actually extremely optimistic about the value of AI. In some ways that is not inconsistent with a Jewish perspective.
As an ethicist, I’m concerned about the most vulnerable members of our society. People for whom we may not have good data; people who are marginalized from the healthcare system that don’t have access to healthcare, whose data may not be included in the training of algorithms. Justice is one concern from a healthcare ethics perspective, and that concern is also a religious concern. Both Judaism and secular ethics are concerned with creating a just society, with treating people with fairness and respect.
The concept of respect and dignity can be viewed through a religious lens, but it’s also very much a fundamental ethical value in bioethics too. Treating people with respect, treating them with dignity, and caring for those who are marginalized.
When we think about AI in the context of our world more generally – not just in healthcare – there are a lot of concerns. Judaism and religion have a lot to say about our responsibility as human beings, for making sure that the things that we create are actually used for good in this world. Judaism has this concept of Tikkun Olan – of repairing the world, of making the world a better place. How you interpret that is an interesting question. Is a technology like AI something that makes the world a better place or is it not?
In my opinion, Judaism, for the most part, embraces technology.
Using AI technology … is part of our sacred Jewish mandate to use human creativity in the ongoing healing of the world.”
dr. lisa lehmann
If you believe that God created the world, and we as human beings are created in God’s image, then one strain of thought is that we are co-creators or partners with God in a continuing creation. And technology is one way we manifest our inherent creativity. Using AI technology to create better medicines to cure disease is part of our sacred Jewish mandate to use human creativity in the ongoing healing of the world. We have this human agency, and that human agency is part of our religious mandate. It’s about how we use the technology and about ensuring that the technology is used for good.
There’s a Midrash in rabbinic literature, the Birah Doleket, of how the biblical patriarch Abraham came to know God. This story talks about Abraham wandering from place to place, as a traveler, and coming across a palace that was in flames. He looks at it with this curiosity. What’s going on here? How is it possible that this beautiful palace is alight and in flames? Isn’t there someone who is responsible for this palace? And where’s the caretaker? At that moment, God spoke from within the fire, announcing “I am the owner of the palace, I am the Master of the Universe.”
I think part of the message is that there’s this partnership with Abraham. It is as if God is saying, “I created this palace. It’s burning and you, Abraham, need to help put out the fire.”The world may be burning. AI may have the potential to create chaos in our world, but human beings have this responsibility to prevent fires and make sure the technology is used for good.
I’m optimistic enough to see the value of AI and its potential, and optimistic enough in humans’ creativity in terms of coming up with safety frameworks and solutions for ensuring that it’s used in a good way.
I’m (also) worried. That’s why I think there’s such an important role and voice for both religion and ethics.
We need to get people to a point and tech companies to a point where they embrace the discomfort of these difficult conversations even where it may threaten their financial bottom line. If we can’t get to the point where there’s a willingness to engage with the questions, then we’ve got serious problems.
I think we need to put together a diversity of perspectives. Religion is one voice, ethics and secular philosophy and moral philosophy are other voices. Religions have different perspectives. We need all of these perspectives. I’m a big believer in the value of the wisdom of the crowds.
Judaism ultimately embraces this kind of technology, and at the same time there are certain values that can help guide its responsible use. Part of that comes from our perspective on creativity. You might say, “Well, does AI inhibit creativity on some level?” I don’t think that’s really the case. I think AI can extend human creativity. I mean, it depends how it’s used, right?”
Dr. Lisa Lehmann is an AI ethicist, researcher and physician. She is also an active interlocutor with Jewish texts. She has led ethics and governance programs at technology companies, large health systems, and academia. She is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and was formerly the director of bioethics and trust at Google. She lives in Palo Alto.
This profile is one of nineteen featured in the “Humans in an age of AI” portrait series. See more profiles here.
