“Two summers ago, Jamie Metzl gave a talk on AI and spirituality at the Chautauqua Institution in Upstate New York. That same spot where Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage a couple of years earlier. Rather than an assassination attempt, Metzl’s talk triggered The AI Ten Commandments: A New Moral Code for Humanity — a book co-authored with GPT-5. Metzl humbly claims that AI enabled him to incorporate other non-Christian traditions in a new moral code for humanity…”

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“Last summer, I was invited to give a lecture on artificial intelligence and spirituality at the famed Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. The invitation followed the publication of my most recent book, Superconvergence, in which I explained how, for all the legitimate concerns about AI, the new technology can help improve our health…”

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As the author notes, “we humans orient our lives around moral codes” that “have developed within the context of our various technological revolutions.” From the rise of agriculture to the printing press to industrialization, technology has been interconnected with the ethical codes (and corresponding laws) that guide human actions. It’s only inevitable, per Metzl, that artificial intelligence will have similar ramifications for the development of new moral codes that will guide societies. And while the author consulted GPT-5 in formulating what this new code should look like in this work, the majority of the book’s chapters are devoted to a thoughtful reflection on the moral systems that have heretofore shaped human progress. Metzl observes that religiously based moral codes, while foundational to human history, are limited in their applicability to modern life, and they “have failed to deliver the kind of better world we might desire.” While the pious may be drawn to the absolutist nature of the biblical Ten Commandments, for example, the Mosaic laws lack nuances relevant to contemporary circumstances; for example, ancient conceptions of “adultery” are difficult to apply to modern understandings of gender roles or the rise of consensual open marriages. The author explores the intersections of religious-based morality and new ethical codes that society adapts as technology changes and provides readers with a brief introduction to the promises offered by the era of AI. Not until the work’s final third does Metzl present his titular Commandments, which include a largely unobjectionable series of maxims ranging from “Treat every being with compassion and dignity” to “Live in harmony with nature and all forms of life.” Readers may balk at the author’s extensive use of GPT-5 (which he lists as a co-author), but Metzl’s engagement with AI over the last decade as a public intellectual and author of multiple books must be taken into account—this is, in fact, a learned and thoughtful discussion of the future of AI. A nuanced reflection on the moral codes that have shaped humanity—and their future in an AI world.

Brian Kilmeade is joined by author Jamie Metzl to discuss Metzl’s groundbreaking new book, The AI 10 Commandments, exploring how humanity can navigate the ethical challenges and job disruptions of the AI revolution.