The First AI Passover: Haggad.AI review
2023 background: Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that creates content in the form text, audio, images, and video. In the past year, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney have achieved a level of sophistication that sometimes rivals human-generated content … and is getting better rapidly. This blog post does not delve into the technology, limitations, or moral questions, but just addresses the question: Does the first AI-generated Haggadah help make a great seder?
The first-ever AI-produced Haggadah was released this year, Haggad.AI. The Haggadah:
- was created by two editors who assembled the Haggadah in a printed book.
- presents commentaries and images generated only by AI.
- presents the traditional parts of the Haggadah without the use of AI.
What’s great
The size
This may seem mundane, but when you’re sitting around the seder table, a right-sized Haggadah is most helpful. How many times have you knocked over wine glasses, elbowed your neighbor, or pushed back your chair just to handle the Haggadah? This Haggadah makes handling the book easier and a more comfortable experience sitting at the seder table. Haggad.AI measures 6"w x 9"h, smaller than most, but with reasonable size text for reading.
The illustrations
The 31 graphics, generated by the authors using the AI program Midjourney, are its best contribution to the canon of Haggadot. The images are quality art, inspirational, and most importantly for the purposes of Passover, provoke conversation.
The cover image impressively illustrates what this Haggadah is: a blending of the story in ancient Egypt with technology. A definition of a useful Haggadah illustration is that it inspires reflection. This graphic above suggests to me questions such as:
How does our personal use of technology enhance or reduce our connection to the world?
How does technology used by others advance or restrict our freedoms (e.g. by governments, corporations, or even social groups)?
As described in the appendix of Haggad.AI, the cover image above was generated by the Haggadah’s producers in the Midjourney tool using these simple AI prompts:
/imagine symmetrical whimsical screen print style, computer circuit board pattern:: pyramids:: Moses, Pharoah, Egypt, camels, oasis, palm trees, desert, 1200 BC.
Pretty impressive, huh? While the marvel of generative AI is cool, our focus at Passover should be primarily focused on the story and making it relevant to our lives today.
In the AI-generated “Parting of the Sea” image above, I feel like I was there. It’s as if Cecil B DeMille had a drone camera hovering over the Red Sea to capture the moment. I can almost hear the rushing sea. (Perhaps future AI will add audio?!?)
This graphic suggests to me questions such as:
What was it like for the Israelites to be pinned between the mighty Egyptian army and the mighty sea? Was the only choice how to die?
If we were in a circumstance where our freedoms are denied, and all paths out seem hopeless, how will we act?
Regardless whether you see the story of the parting of the sea as fact or parable, this specific AI-generated image is the best I have seen in any Haggadah for prompting discussion about hope and hopelessness when freedoms are denied and dire choices are what’s left.
“Parting of the Sea” was generated using the AI prompts:
/imagine hyper realistic photography, documentary photography style, national geographic style, birdseye view, thousands of Israelites leaving Egypt, walk through the angry sea, the sea parts for them, huge waves of water to their left and right, drone view, bokeh, 4k, rule of thirds.
What’s ok
The traditional text
The required texts and steps of the seder are presented in a traditional style with traditional text and translation. AI was not used to generate them. The text design is easy to understand and use, with good use of fonts, layout, and simple shading.
Basic Midrash
The producers used ChatGPT to provide descriptive commentary about the major parts of the Haggadah. They are clear, brief, and reference traditional texts.
For example:
… the four sons demonstrate different approaches to learning and engaging with Jewish tradition. The wise son values deepening his knowledge and understanding of the story, the wicked son is skeptical of its truth, the simple son embraces tradition, and the son who does not know how to ask finds meaning in the experience of telling the story with his family. Despite their differences, they all share a connection to their shared heritage and the Passover story.
Sometimes you just need a good basic explanation. Haggad.AI does the job.
In a future version, we’d like to read modern AI-generated commentaries, such as midrashim in the style of Natan Sharansky, Hannah Senesh, or Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Some issues
An error in an AI-generated commentary:
- A commentary misstates the order of the seder. The text states “The other sages agreed and thus the order of the Seder was established, starting with the story of the exodus…”. But in Mishnah Pesachim 10, the Seder beings with kiddush, and the telling of the story (magid) follows as the fifth section. While the AI-generated commentary is wrong, the presentation of the traditional text is correct (page 10 and following).
- [Update] The co-producer of the Haggadah kindly responded to an email I sent him about this topic. “…We purposely left the ChatGPT commentary without any human intervention… because we wanted the AI’s writing to inspire conversation and discussion around the table. Yes, it says that we should start with the story of Exodus and not Kadesh, but that’s directly below the correct order of the Seder … We want Haggad.AI to make people ask questions and inspire debate about AI’s place within Jewish Learning, ethical issues surrounding it, and how and when it should be used.”
Recognizing this AI error was kept in the commentary by the producers intentionally and for good reason, I would’ve preferred if they flagged the AI-generated commentary with their own commentary. With this approach, the AI error would be acknowledged, and the producers can call attention to the questions they would like us to discuss at the seder.
An example of formatting that confused us:
- [Update] We originally thought that the Haggadah omitted the introductory passage “In the beginning, our ancestors were idol worshippers.” This is a key passage because it is the basis for discussion about liberation from spiritual, not physical, bondage.
- The co-producer also kindly responded in an email. Indeed, the section IS present in the text. We missed it because the start of this major section was not bolded and enlarged at the same level as other comparable sections. The error was ours, but consistent formatting would have helped.
Overall, these are the only issues we found on first review and will not prevent us from using this Haggadah.
Summary
We will be using Haggad.AI at our seder this year.
I recommend it to you, at least one copy.
Haggad.AI is a keeper.
The canon of Haggadot are a mixed lot. Many Haggadot are shvach (weak, unremarkable, or lacking substance or quality). Few are worthy of a place on our shelf. Using a startup ventures / technology term, Haggad.AI certainly exceeds the bar for being an MVP (minimum viable product).
As the first AI-generated Haggadah, it is an important milestone in the centuries’ evolution of Haggadot.
Haggad.AI has earned a place in our valued Haggadot collection, next to our regular seder Haggadah, A Different Night (Shalom Hartman Institute), useful texts for commentaries and ideas including My People’s Passover Haggadah (Hoffman and Arnow) and Creating Lively Passover Seders (Arnow), and artistic volumes like the Moss Haggadah.
We hope the producers create a version 2 of Haggad.AI next year.
We would be excited to see more and better commentaries (including their own commentaries on the AI-generated result), new AI-generated images, and some modern references to today’s freedoms denied, so that Passover is made even more relevant.
Kol hakavod to the producers:
The producers, or “conjurers” as they call themselves, are Royi Shamir, an Israeli architect, and Yitz Woolf, a Canadian-Israeli graphic designer (who has a custom bencher / siddur / ketubah business, Let’s Bench). I am grateful for their work and their quick, thoughtful response to the topics above.
Thanks to Rabbi Leslie Gordon for reviewing Haggad.AI with me.
She’s both an avid consumer of Haggadot, a teacher about Passover in many communities, and our family’s seder leader, filling the holiday with traditions and innovations in equal measure.
You can purchase Haggad.AI in the US exclusively at Amazon.
The Amazon page says “Hebrew edition”, but it is indeed Hebrew-English.
Wishing you a happy, healthy Passover in freedom and prosperity.
