When I was a boy, my late mother used to tell me that the same fire that bakes bread can also burn down a home. The difference, she’d say, is in the hands that guide it.
Her words came back to me as I read Pew Research Center’s new survey on how Americans view artificial intelligence (AI). Pew asked more than 5,000 adults how they experience AI and what they expect from it in the years ahead. The results reveal a mix of awe, anxiety, and uncertainty—emotions our tradition knows well.
What Americans are saying about AI
According to Pew’s findings, most Americans now recognize that AI is part of daily life, whether in navigation apps, online shopping, or the voices of Alexa and Siri. But recognition isn’t the same as trust. Only a minority of respondents believe AI will make society better overall. For many, concern outpaces optimism.
When it comes to sensitive areas like hiring, policing, or healthcare, skepticism is strong. People doubt whether machines—despite their speed and sophistication—can make fair, humane decisions. And while younger adults are far more open to AI’s promise, older generations remain cautious, if not resistant. One striking detail: many Americans admit they can’t always tell whether content was written by a human being or generated by a machine.
The Jewish lens: bechirah chofshit
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Judaism has been here before—not with AI, of course, but with every new form of power. Fire, farming tools, nuclear energy: each gift of human ingenuity has carried the same question—*for what purpose will we use it?*
The Torah frames this responsibility as bechirah chofshit, the radical freedom to choose. In Deuteronomy we read: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life.” AI, dazzling and disorienting as it may be, is simply the newest arena where that ancient choice applies.
Israel’s AI crossroads
For Israelis, these questions are not abstract. AI is already shaping our reality in profound ways:
- Security: From predictive intelligence to Iron Dome’s targeting, AI increasingly supports decisions where lives are at stake. With that power comes profound ethical responsibility.
- Healthcare: Israeli startups are world leaders in using AI to detect cancer, personalize treatment, and expand access to rural or underserved communities. Here, AI is literally choosing life—but it also raises questions about privacy and equity.
- Jewish learning: Projects like Sefaria’s AI-powered search tools and Hebrew natural language processing are opening Torah study in ways our ancestors could hardly imagine. What once required years in a yeshiva can now begin with a smartphone.
Each of these advances is breathtaking. Each also forces us to ask: will AI deepen our humanity—or hollow it out?
Trust, technology, and relationships
From my work with PAIRS, teaching relationship skills to couples and communities for more than four decades, I’ve learned that trust is the true currency of human connection. Without trust, marriages wither. Communities fracture. Families break.
The same is true with technology. If people are uneasy about AI in medicine or justice, it’s not only because of the algorithms—it’s because trust cannot be automated. It must be earned through transparency, accountability, and respect for human dignity.
Choosing life with AI
So how do we “choose life” in an age of artificial intelligence? A few starting points:
- Keep relationships at the center. Technology should strengthen, not replace, the bonds between people. An AI tool that isolates or dehumanizes us has already failed.
- Insist on transparency. In PAIRS, we teach couples that clarity and honesty prevent resentment. The same must apply to AI systems: people deserve to know how decisions are made.
- Cultivate wisdom, not just knowledge. Data may predict behavior, but wisdom asks, “What is right?” The Talmud teaches, “Who is wise? One who learns from every person.” Wisdom grows from humility, dialogue, and moral reflection—not just processing power.
- Equip the next generation. If younger adults are most open to AI, let’s give them the tools to ask not only, “Can we?” but “Should we?” Emotional literacy, ethical grounding, and critical thinking must be part of the curriculum.
A timeless test
The Pew survey confirms that America is walking a tightrope between excitement and fear. In Israel, where existential stakes are never far from view, the choices feel even sharper. Jewish wisdom reminds us that the real measure of intelligence—artificial or human—is whether it helps us love better, live more justly, and protect the divine spark in each person.
My mother was right. Fire can bake bread or burn down a home. Today, the same truth applies to lines of code.
I see that truth playing out in my own family. My eldest son, a physician, is using AI in medicine to detect illnesses earlier and improve patient care. My middle son, a filmmaker, leans on AI tools for editing and creative collaboration. And my youngest, still in high school, experiments with AI the way earlier generations played with a basketball or a guitar—testing, stretching, imagining. Three sons, three different windows into how AI is already shaping their futures.
Their journeys remind me that technology itself is never the final word. The test is always the same: will we use these powers to love more deeply, act more justly, and safeguard the dignity of every human being?
That was my mother’s wisdom about fire. It is also our calling with AI.
Seth Eisenberg is a longtime leader in relationship education. An author, educator, and community builder, his work has helped thousands strengthen bonds of love, healing, and purpose.