The art of artificial intelligence

It is the eve of the new year, and Times Square is packed with chasidim dancing amid the bright lights, and -- if you live in Hackensack or nearby -- they may be headed toward your mailbox. The dancing chasidim are the October art for Chabad of Hackensack's calendar. Like any Jewish wall calendar, it includes holidays and candle lighting times; it includes advertisements for neighborhood physicians and birthdays and yahrzeits of community members; and like the other calendars printed by ChabadHouseCalendars.com, it includes birthdays and yahrzeits for the various Lubavitcher rebbes (and the most recent rebbetzin, who also is the last one). But what makes the calendar of interest beyond the 07601 zip code is the art, which was created by Rabbi Mendy Kaminker, who heads Chabad of Hackensack, using the latest "artificially intelligent" art creation software, which synthesized the pictures based on his written prompts. "I started seeing all kinds of unbelievable pictures on Twitter" of AI-generated art, Rabbi Kaminker said.