AI and Teshuvah

by R. Gil Student

This year, many people are going to try to learn lessons about how to do teshuvah from artificial intelligence (AI). I am going to go in the other direction and discuss how AI shows the wrong way to approach repentance. By studying where AI’s processes diverge from true teshuvah, we can sharpen our understanding of what real return to God requires.

I. Teshuvah and Commitment

AI learns through correction. A model is trained, tested, corrected and retrained, cycling through errors until it gradually improves. Even after training, when it interacts with the public, AI accepts corrections. Have you ever received nonsensical sources from ChatGPT? If you challenge the AI, it will acknowledge the mistake and try again. Often the next try is nonsense also. However, the AI keeps acknowledging its errors and attempting to do better. In one sense, this resembles the human tendency to stumble repeatedly before real change takes hold. 

However, Rambam defines true teshuvah differently. In Mishneh Torah (Hilkhos Teshuvah 2:2), he writes that teshuvah is reached when a person commits to never repeating the sin. He adds that the Almighty Himself testifies the sinner will not return to that transgression. This seems like quite a high burden. Ostensibly, it means that you have not accomplished teshuvah unless you never again become weak and fall prey to this sin. In other words, your teshuvah is always conditional until the day that you die.

The implausibility of this reading leads commentaries to explain Rambam differently. Rav Avraham de Boton (16th cen., Greece) writes that Rambam means that you call down God to testify to your sincerity (Lechem Mishneh, ad loc.). Rav Yitzchak Blaser (19th cen., Russia) explains that God testifies that if all things remain equal, based on current circumstances this person will not return to this sin (Kokhevei Or, no. 7). Regardless, Rambam requires a sincere commitment to refrain from this sin going forward.

This is not iterative, like AI’s process, but decisive. AI’s endless cycles actually highlight how people often fall short of full teshuvah, circling through half-measures and repeated failures. People might intend to refrain from sin but they usually lack commitment to meaningfully change their lives. However, true teshuvah demands a higher standard: an unwavering break with the past, a level of transformation so deep it achieves divine affirmation. In this sense, AI represents the common half-measure of teshuvah rather than the necessary full teshuvah.

II. Humility and Focus

In other respects, however, AI can teach us much about teshuvah. Despite its impressive capabilities, AI never claims perfection. It always functions within boundaries of probability, with an inherent awareness of error margins. A system that pretends to be flawless is misleading and dangerous. Teshuvah begins with the same humility, the same awareness of self-limitations. A person who insists on his perfection, who refuses to acknowledge failure, cannot change. Recognizing imperfection is not weakness but strength. It opens the door to change, to growth, to excellence. The important lesson for teshuvah from AI is that accepting your imperfections does not demonstrate weakness. It allows for meaningful improvement.

King David says in Tehillim: “One thing I asked of the Lord, that which I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” (Ps. 27:4). There is a special significance not just in what David requests but in that it is only one thing. Normally in life we strive for the next world but pray for this world. The Gemara (Shabbos 10a) tells how Rava saw Rav Hamnuna, who was spending a long time in his prayers. Rava said about him: “They abandon eternal life (chayei olam, i.e. Torah study) and engage in temporary life (chayei sha’ah, prayer).” When we learn and do mitzvos, we acquire eternal merit, we focus on the long term spiritual life. When we pray, we ask for things we need in this world, we focus on the short term. Rava criticized Rav Hamnuna for praying too long when he could have been learning.

The Gemara explains that Rav Hamnuna set different times for prayer and for learning. However, the continuation of the Gemara makes it seem that Rava’s argument is conclusive. R. Yirmiyah and R. Zeira were learning Torah. Prayer time arrived and R. Yirmiyah rushed to begin his prayers. R. Zeira criticized him, quoting the verse, “One who turns his ear from hearing Torah, even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov. 28:9). According to Rava and R. Zeira, we have to pray but we should minimize the time we spend in prayer so we can learn more Torah. While we have to live in this world, our focus should be on the next world.

III. Teshuvah and Focus

Rav Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer (19th cen., Hungary) explains that David’s focus was directed to the next world. The one thing he requested was to live a life of spirituality, focused solely on the next world, not on prayer but on Torah and divine wisdom. No person can reach that on his own but if we put in our effort, God will help us reach it (Kesav Sofer Al Ha-Torah, Inyanei Teshuvah, p. 729-730 in the 1995 edition). The proper spiritual attitude is one of focus on the spiritual life. In this, we can learn something from AI.

AI is relentlessly focused on its assigned task. It does not tire, become hungry or get distracted by bodily desires or idle curiosity. Once given a goal, it directs all its energy toward achieving it. This provides a sharp contrast to human life, where distractions abound and our spiritual goals are often sidelined by comfort or habit. Teshuvah requires recovering that clarity of focus. Torah and mitzvos define the ultimate purpose of life, but staying directed toward them takes conscious effort. AI’s single-minded drive reminds us of the concentration we should bring to avodas Hashem.

None of this implies that AI is capable of spirituality. Machines cannot repent. However, their structures and patterns echo truths about human growth. Iteration, which falls short of teshuvah, shows how people often drift into cycles of repeated sin. Humility teaches openness to correction. Focus teaches determination. Without the willingness to change, people not only remain flawed but descend further. A car that is not regularly serviced breaks down. Similarly, a person who does not regularly reevaluate and adjust his conduct, devolves into antisocial behavior. AI, a creation of human ingenuity, unintentionally reflects some of the same principles that sustain spiritual life. It shows us where we can go wrong, and also where we can go right: committed, humble and focused correction leads to lasting transformation.