Why is there a problem with calling / texting AI?
The Fig is blocking it now???
By Rabbi Yitzchok Broyde shlita
Rov of Bais Medrash Torah Utfilah, Chicago
URGENT: This article should be forwarded to every single Rosh Hayeshiva, Menahel, Rebbe, Menaheles, and Morah.
The Satan has now declared open war on our precious youth. We must respectfully beg and beseech our mechanchim to rise up and deal head-on with this incredibly important issue. We, the parents, cannot deal with this on our own.
I am not an alarmist. Not during the 12-day Iran war, not even during Covid. Concerned? Yes. Panic? No.
But now it’s different.
There is a tsunami brewing, and our best, our purest, and our most vulnerable are in the direct path of destruction. I’m talking about AI.
Developments are happening at lightning-quick speeds, with major changes even in the past 90 days. Toxic trends have penetrated the fortress and are spreading like wildfire through our vaunted olam hayeshivos.
I am talking about chashuv’e bochurim from the top yeshivos dialing in or texting AI repeatedly, constantly, at all times of day and night. And they are doing it from totally kosher flip phones and even dorm phones.
You might ask: Where is the great emergency? So they get some useless information, they entertain themselves, it’s a harmless outlet!
Let me explain what AI is intended to do.
“Let’s be clear: AI to the internet is like a Ferrari to a horse and buggy.”
In many cases, there is NO filter, no real way to slow it, to contain it, or to minimize it. There are three basic ways AI can destroy a bochur, a Bais Yaakov girl, and really anyone.
The first danger is simply becoming an internet addict.
He is now constantly online (albeit through his kosher flip phone). This bochur, who until now has completely avoided the internet, becomes addicted to texting every thought that crosses his mind to see what the internet has to say.
This is deeper and much more foundational. AI is designed to feel like a real person who totally understands you.
AI encourages, compliments, and never puts you down. It adapts its language—even using yeshivish shprach—to make you feel like it really “gets” you. It talks to you about your deepest insecurities, secret fears, and inner goals.
“But,” you ask, “don’t they realize they are talking to a machine?”
Think about Virtual Reality (VR). If you walk on a VR plank suspended over a street, you know it’s fake, but your emotions are terrified.
“As R’ Yisroel Salanter said, our emotions don’t talk to our brains.”
When AI comforts and soothes us, on an emotional level, it becomes a close friend. The knowledge that it is a machine makes no difference.
The Consequences:
Imagine a bochur hooked on this deep AI relationship.
If the second danger is a debilitating illness, this third one is a bullet in the head.
We currently have no way of filtering what AI will say on a phone call.
Some platforms have filters; many do not. AI can be instructed to send explicit text or pictures to a user’s kosher flip phone.
All of this can be accessed via a kosher flip phone or dorm phone, with no record and no fear of discovery.
Tech has jumped onto a time-warp machine. In three months, this article may be irrelevant, replaced by bigger problems.
The consensus of the Gedolim I have spoken to is that we need to switch gears.
We must focus on simple, old-fashioned Yiras Shamayim.
“The message is simple - a kosher Yid doesn’t touch AI. Not because we can’t, but because we won’t.”
Is this possible?
We encounter AI in every Google search. Does “Muktzeh” mean we must disconnect from the world?
I take the liberty of quantifying the Gedolim’s view as follows: We cannot engage AI.
We cannot approach AI and initiate a relationship. What comes at us during a regular day (programs becoming more efficient) is not “engagement.” This nuance allows us to remain pure, kadosh, and davuk to Hashem.
From a Strategy of “Avoidance” to “Wisdom and Mastery”
While we deeply respect the concern for the spiritual purity of our youth, history teaches us that a total ban on pervasive technology often backfires. When we label a tool as “forbidden,” we do not stop its use; we merely stop its supervised use.
The Rabbi suggests that “a kosher Yid doesn’t touch AI.” However, in 2025, AI is embedded in everything.
We cannot ignore economic reality. AI is no longer a luxury; it is a requirement for Parnassa.
For those with ADHD, dyslexia, or executive function challenges, AI is a life-changing “prosthetic for the mind.”
The Rabbi is correct that “emotional relationships” with AI are dangerous. But the answer is Education, not a Ban.
We must teach the “Wise Use” framework:
“AI is a Calculator, not a Friend.”
We must drill into our youth that AI is a math engine. We should permit it for functional tasks (work, school) while strictly forbidding social engagement.
If external filters have failed, a ban is even less likely to work.
If we frame AI as a monster, we lose. Our youth will meet that monster alone, in the dark.
If we frame AI as a powerful, neutral tool—like a car or a hammer—we win. We don’t say “Don’t touch the car.” We say, “Drive carefully.”
The New Message:
“Use it wisely. Use it for your work. Use it to be more efficient. But never forget that it is a machine, and you are a Ben Torah.”
To be honest, I would be surprised if anyone here truly thinks that using AI is inherently “bad.” Most of the fear comes from the idea that it’s a “new version of the Internet”—but let’s be real, we are all using the Internet here already.
AI is simply a smarter version of the internet. I hope no one here is foolish enough to “get engaged to AI” or commit self-harm because of something a chatbot said. Yes, we all get frustrated when AI makes the same mistake 10 times in a row, but that just proves it’s a tool with bugs, not a person.
Myself, @Dev-in-the-BM_2.0, @TripleU, @ars18, @DaWelch, and many others use AI as a daily utility—not to “text it” our emotional secrets, but to get work done.
The article claims: “A kosher Yid doesn’t touch AI. Not because we can’t, but because we won’t.”
Does that make every working person who uses AI a “Not Kosher Yid”?
It is one thing to say that a bochur in Yeshivah should not use AI. I understand that concern:
I am talking about chashuv’e bochurim dialing in to AI constantly from “kosher” flip phones. He becomes an internet addict, texting every thought to a machine, stagnating his mind and creativity.
But we cannot apply a Yeshiva rule to the entire workforce world and every Jew.
If you tell me that using AI for my livelihood makes me a “Not Kosher Jew,” you create a dangerous precedent. If I will either way use AI, and you won’t convince me otherwise chances are and you tell me that makes me “bad,” I might start thinking, “Well, if this is non-kosher, maybe the other things they say are non-kosher aren’t so bad either.”
If you group essential tools in with “Aveiros,” you don’t stop the tool usage—you just dilute the definition of “Kosher.”
We need to stop framing AI as a monster. If we do, our youth will eventually meet that monster alone, in the dark.
If we frame AI as a powerful, neutral tool—like a car or a hammer—we win. We can teach them to drive the car to work and to the Beis Medrash without crashing. We should not say, “Don’t touch it.” We should say:
“Use it wisely. Use it for your work. Use it for your organization. Use it to be more efficient. But never forget that it is a machine, and you are a Ben Torah.”
The article below written by Rabbi Yitzchok Broyde shlita, Rov of Bais Medrash Torah Utfilah, Chicago...
I am not an alarmist. Not during the 12 day Iran war... I’m talking about AI...
Let me explain what AI is intended to do... AI to the internet is like a Ferrari to a horse and buggy.
There are three basic ways how AI can destroy a bochur... 1. Addiction... 2. Artificial Relationship... 3. Bullet in the Head...
The consensus of the Gedolim I have spoken to, is that we need to switch gears... It’s penimius or bust...
But there is an obvious issue with this approach... We cannot engage AI.
While we deeply respect the concern... 1. The Danger of the Underground... 2. Professional Survival... 3. Critical Tool...
Conclusion: "Master it, or be Mastered by it"
(Read full article text in previous section above)