Just days after a gathering of hassidic rabbis from the Skver group prohibited making use of artificial intelligence, Rabbi Moishy Goldstein, a hassidic Jew living in Crown Heights, has jumped on the scene to introduce Kosher.Chat, a “kosher” AI chatbot that functions similarly to ChatGPT, but has been specifically designed to provide answers suitable to Orthodox Jews and their religious standards.
Goldstein, a music educator, was notified of the ban by a friend who suggested he create a “kosher” alternative that would address concerns raised by the Skver Rabbinic Court. Soon after, Goldstein decided to create Kosher.Chat and decided to follow the principles of Halacha (Jewish Law) in providing answers to users.
In contrast to the answers provided by OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform, Kosher.Chat’s answers abide by Jewish values and beliefs, making it appropriate for Orthodox Jews. An example of this is seen in the answer Kosher.Chat provides when asked about the term “queer”. Instead of providing a long and detailed explanation like OpenAI, Kosher.Chat provides an answer emphasizing that according to Judaism, “homosexuality is considered a violation of the prohibition against same-sex relations.”
To ensure the answers are reliable and valid, users are encouraged to provide feedback on any answer that does not align with Torah. This allows Goldstein to fine-tune the platform’s model to make sure its answers are in line with Jewish values.
Kosher.Chat is powered by Goldstein’s proprietary workflow, which is based on OpenAI’s GPT model used by ChatGPT. The platform differs from its competitors because it ensures that mundane questions are answered with a Jewish filter and religious questions can only be answered in a general sense and not relied upon for halachic rulings.
Aside from creating Kosher.Chat, Goldstein also runs the Moishy Goldstein Music Studio NYC and teaches religious studies to middle school yeshiva students. He was recently featured in Israeli media for creating an AI chatbot that is appropriate for Orthodox Jews.
Goldstein’s development of Kosher.Chat is significant in that it provides an AI chatbot that abides by Jewish values and beliefs and is appropriate for users of the Orthodox Jewish faith. The platform also allows users to safely learn more about topics related to Judaism without having to worry about answers that oppose Jewish values.
