Rein Veidemann says AI cannot take over the human soul

Literary scholar and writer Rein Veidemann, who has turned 80, says artificial intelligence may take over almost everything but cannot understand the human soul, ERR reported after his appearance on the cultural programme OP.

Veidemann described the soul as a cosmic black hole: people radiate from its surface, he said, but can never know exactly what lies within. He warned that AI can even write poems, but cannot manage a person’s soul.

He said the generation born after the Second World War was the first to grow up in peacetime. Its legacy, he said, includes learning to communicate with audiences between the lines during the Soviet occupation. That experience taught the generation that imagery always hints at something, he added.

Veidemann’s new book, Standing at the Gate of My Own World, has three parts. The first is devoted to memories, the second contains more general educational material, and the third is more intimate. He highlighted its reflections on old age, existential sadness and hope.