What AI algorithms can't do for you

As the leader of a university, I spend a fair amount of my time thinking about what artificial intelligence can do. The list is long, and it grows every week. These systems can draft legal documents, help interpret medical scans, digest a semester’s worth of reading in minutes.

I believe AI will ultimately prove to be a genuine force for good. But I have yet to see a system that can tell you whether you were a decent person over the course of the last year.

There is no algorithm that can track how patient you were with your children, how honest you were with a colleague, or whether you showed up for someone when it wasn’t convenient. No machine can know the apology you owe, or the resentment you are carrying. Nobody — or nothing — can answer those questions for you. The only way to begin answering them is to stop moving long enough to look.

That is one reason I find this time of year so important. The Jewish High Holy Days, otherwise known as the Ten Days of Repentance, begin with Rosh Hashanah and culminate with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is a time to take stock of how one has lived, acknowledge shortcomings and commit to doing better. Not vaguely, but concretely.

People hear “repentance” and think of guilt and punishment. But the heart of these days is closer to something any businessperson would recognize. In the corporate world, we periodically step back for an assessment that we call a SWOT analysis, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

The Jewish tradition has asked people to conduct a similar annual accounting for roughly 2,000 years — of their own character. What did I do well? Where did I fall short? What relationships need attention? This exercise asks us to examine who we actually are when nobody is grading us, and how we can increase our personal stock in our eyes, the eyes of those around us and in front of the Almighty.

We are living through a period in which everything moves fast and very little encourages us to stop and think. The news arrives at a pace that rewards reacting and punishes pausing. It’s easier than ever to give our opinions.

Genuine self-reflection is difficult. And yet the consequences of doing that are not as small as they sound.

If millions of people become slightly more willing to acknowledge their mistakes, listen before judging or treat a stranger with more patience, the cumulative result is not merely personal. It changes families and workplaces. Over time, it has the power to change culture and society.

That kind of change does not come from a better algorithm. It comes from a great many private reckonings that add up — sincere and active commitments to do better.

So before we move on to the next headline, take some time to look back. Put down the phone. Think honestly about the past year — what happened to you, and how you responded.

What did you get right, and wrong? Who did you help? Who did you hurt? What do you need to change?

The machines will keep getting smarter. They will help us solve problems once thought beyond our reach. But this particular piece of work is still ours to do.

We have to decide who we want to be — and then have the courage to become that person.

This guest essay reflects the views of Dr. Alan Kadish, president of Touro University,  the nation’s largest institute of higher learning under Jewish auspices.