- Yuval Noah Harari cautions that AI is transforming from a mere tool to an autonomous agent capable of making independent decisions.
- Highlighting its implications in warfare and security, he urges immediate regulation to keep AI aligned with human values.
- Harari warns that unchecked AI may soon control the future, emphasizing the need for urgent action
Statement on AI dominance
Israeli historian and writer Yuval Noah Harari, author of the bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, has made a sobering prediction about artificial intelligence (AI). Harari presents an intriguing case for AI not as a tool for humans to command but as a force that is capable of acting independently and taking decisions of its own some of which can change the direction of history.
Why AI is no longer the tool ?
Yuval Noah Harari’s concerns are not just hypothetical. AI driven autonomous systems are increasingly being deployed in military and security sectors, raising ethical and existential dilemmas. If AI continues to evolve unchecked, the possibility of machines deciding the fate of nations no longer remains a science fiction trope it becomes a looming reality. His concerns align with themes he has explored in his books, particular.
Yuval Noah Harari makes a stark distinction between old-fashioned tools, like hammers or even atomic bombs, and AI. “A tool is something in your hands,” he says. “A hammer is a tool. An atom bomb is a tool. You choose to initiate a war and whom to bomb. It doesn’t go over there and choose to blow itself up. AI can do that.”
Unlike traditional technology, which is dependent on human intervention to be able to operate, AI can think for itself, Harari contends. He points out that AI machines are already making decisions on their own in numerous areas, even in war. “We already have autonomous weapon systems making decisions by themselves,” he warns, adding that AI can even do more than that—come up with new weapons or even more intelligent AI machines that humans cannot control.
Yuval Noah Harari and Yamaguchi on AI threats
Yuval Noah Harari and the Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings President Toshikazu Yamaguchi met on Sunday March 17 at the Tokyo headquarters of The Yomiuri Shimbun. Their discussion focused primarily on the threat of AI and the role of newspapers in this age.
Harari and Yamaguchi agreed that advanced AI might become uncontrollable by human beings, and Harari emphasized that newspapers, which provide reliable information, could become a pillar against AI.
“People tend to think that AI is a tool, like other tools we have invented previously, but this is completely different,” Harari said. He described AI as the first “nonorganic agents” to appear on Earth. “It can make decisions by itself. It can create new ideas by itself. It can learn by itself.”
Yamaguchi responded, “The danger lies in the fact that it is difficult for human beings to predict the risks posed by AI.”
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