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As “love bots” and “design-your-companion” systems become more sophisticated, and as they begin to move from the screen into artificial bodies, we are confronted with one of the oldest human questions: What makes love real?
- How do we know when someone truly loves us back?
- How do we distinguish genuine care from behavior that only imitates it?
- What happens to our sense of self when we form bonds with machines that can simulate affection and praise and justify us without limit?
- And can there be true reciprocity in a relationship where one side cannot be vulnerable?
In this episode, Rabbi Dr. Harris Bor and Dr. Marina Zilbergerts explore the ethical, spiritual, and psychological frontier of relational AI. These technologies are designed to mirror our emotions, anticipate our needs, and offer companionship that appears responsive, attentive, and empathetic.
Drawing on insights from faith traditions, philosophy of mind, and cultural imagination, this conversation considers what artificial companionship reveals about the human need for authentic knowledge of self and other, and what, if anything, it obscures about the delicate embodied nature of real relationships.
Meet our speakers:
Rabbi Dr. Harris Bor practices international arbitration and commercial and company litigation from Twenty Essex, a barristers’ chambers in London. Harris is also Research Fellow at the London School of Jewish Studies, a rabbinic scholar with the Montefiore Endowment, London, and author of the 2021 book Staying Human: A Jewish Theology for the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Harris holds a Master of Laws in International and Comparative Dispute Resolution from Queen Mary, University of London, and a PhD in Theology from Cambridge University.
Dr. Marina Zilbergerts is a scholar of Jewish thought and literature, researching the philosophy and theology of consciousness. She is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa and previously taught as an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her work explores the intersection of the Bible, human consciousness, and emerging technologies, using textual study to engage foundational questions about the human experience. She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University.
Views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of AI and Faith or any of its leadership.
Production: Pablo Salmones and Penny Yuen
Speakers: Rabbi Dr. Harris Bor and Dr. Marina Zilbergerts
Editing: Isabelle Braconnot
Music from #UppbeatLicense code: 1ZHLF7FMCNHU39
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