French Researchers Want HAL To Write Fatwas
from the God-of-the-machine dept
The Arabic Daily Asharq Al-Awsat reports that a team of French researchers are hoping to create an "Electronic Mufti" -- an artificial intelligence capable of processing the opinions of historical clerics and generating a fatwa, or religious edict, that answers novel problems as the human template would have. The goal is supposedly to generate "more accurate" opinions, not subject to... human... error.
This has the whiff of a prank about it, but if it's for real, it seems to raise intriguing theological no less than technological questions. Islam tends to frown on pictorial representations of Allah's handiwork, and in particular -- as the Danish Cartoon Fiasco reminded us -- of the Prophet Muhammad, a likely candidate for simulation. Would a simulacrum of the Prophet's thought processes run afoul of the prohibition on representation? One member of the French team, Dr. Anas Fawzi, assures us that Islamic scholars have declared that his project is not "haram," or unlawful. But something tells me controversy is inevitable. Either way, I find I can't help but think of the confessional CyberJesus from the George Lucas classic THX 1138.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: artificial intelligence, fatwas
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Hacking the Gibson
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
But seriously, this is stupid.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
perhaps
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
My question would be what happens when religious groups like the KKK and the Muslim extremists find out that it is wrong to do what they do. Them and all those idiots who think that the bible is homophobic.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: life
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Er/oreilly/radar/atom/%7E3/211118032/human_vs_machine_google_wallstree t.html
The funny thing is, this fatwa machine need a fatwa for it's existence
sorry for the weird english, i'm from Indonesia (now i'm experienced the result of illegal loging, flood). I'll pass this information to some forum, and try to get the opinion of people here in Indonesia.
[ link to this | view in thread ]