Evan created this full podcast from scratch. As part of our efforts in applying AI to Torah.
- With this we (or Evan) present a further proof of concept, an example of the many applications of AI to transform the world through, and beginning with, Torah and Mitzvos.
- Disclaimer: A robot is not a Rabbi. Please proceed with caution, and please share any bugs.
- Interact: Click here or visit http://newera.now to chat with all resources used.
Part 2 is a real crash course on some of the most central yet delicate concepts in Jewish philosophy.
How was this made:
- We shared shiurim with the AI, from real-life people, like Rabbi Oster and YY Jacobson and more. (Hebrew ones got cut out in general this time, for technical reasons. Next round we can include.)
- Our team split the audio into sections, basically as it is delivered in the podcast. We fed each section to the Realtime API as WAV files, intersplicing some shiur texts, and going back and forth with the AI with comments etc. on his understanding. Often we had to hint at what was going to come next in the maamar, for example.
- The final audio was edited heavily. Just like last year, we had to cut out a word here or there, words like 'just' or such, which can change the entire meaning... This is because the AI refuses to accept some of the concepts in Chassidus (a significant challenge and pitfall which we're here to fix via training etc.!): one example, both this year and last year, the AI would not accept 'ועמך כולם צדיקים' - and that should illustrate the point...
- Other edits included removing overcomplications and/or conflicts across different shiurim; moving clips around for the intro and summary, etc. This shiur is going to be closer to straightforward translation which gets the point across, rather than a deep dive and revisiting of definitions of terminology in Chassidus. That can be done also, but the creators of the podcast did not see that as a goal.
This was 10x easier, cheaper, and faster than last year. The final product is quite different, for better and for worse. Its always a work in progress, but can you imagine what we'll see next year?
With anticipation for the final breakthrough,
Evan's Human Handlers
