New Bedford Clergy Sound Alarm Over Artificial Intelligence

I usually don’t have much trouble figuring out what my guests want to talk about on Townsquare Sunday. However, I was surprised this week when Reverend David Lima of the Interchurch Council of Greater New Bedford and Rabbi Raphael Kanter of the Tifereth Israel Synagogue both mentioned Artificial Intelligence as something they wanted to discuss as part of their annual year-end chat about important issues on the SouthCoast.

I was planning on topics such as housing, opioid addiction and poverty, but both men were anxious to discuss AI and the impact it will have on people in the not-too-distant future.

Protecting Children in an AI-Driven World

“I think it’s going to dislocate people in the future,” Rabbi Kanter said. “I don’t see people in Washington saying we should put guardrails on this technological juggernaut that we don’t seem to really understand. A major concern is that we protect our children who are getting online and interacting with this technology, and no one is questioning how it will affect their mental or physical health.”

Concerns Over Job Loss and Economic Disruption

Reverend Lima said experts have told him that when AI is fully implemented in the workforce, it will likely mean a 10 percent increase in unemployment to start.

“That kind of numbers shift in unemployment has caused wars and famine throughout history,” he said. “The bottom line is, these major AI companies don’t want guardrails because the money going into it is enormous.”

Community Strength and Volunteerism Still Shine

Both men had some positives to talk about, including people coming together to help others, and volunteerism.

“The collective spirit in our area is tremendous and gratifying,” Rev. Lima said. “We had people come together when SNAP benefits were threatened. There was a mad rush of people who never collected food went to work to collect food for people who were going to need it.”

Anti-Semitism on the Decline in New Bedford

While anti-Semitism seems to be on the increase around the world, Rabbi Kanter said here in New Bedford, there’s a different story. “We are in a better place here in New Bedford. New Bedford seems to be doing a lot better than the rest of the country,” he said. “The number of anti-Semitic incidents here has been zero over the past few years.”

A Call for Compassion Over Division

Rev. Lima ended our talk with some words for all of us.

“As soon as we start identifying people as ‘them,’ that’s when we start down the road to hate and violence,” he said. “If we all cared about each other, and treated each other like we want to be treated, then we would have a much better society.”

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