Yuval Noah Harari: AI and the future of humanity | Frontiers Forum Live 2023

Professor Yuval Noah Harari is considered one of the world's most influential public intellectuals today.

In his keynote at Frontiers Forum Live 2023, Yuval spoke on the potential for artificial intelligence to become the first inorganic lifeform on our planet, and how it might change the very make-up or meaning of the world's ecological system. He outlined of the threat that this 'alien' intelligence poses to human civilizations – even without AI becoming conscious or able to navigate the physical world, and called for immediate regulation. The session was followed by a series of questions and answers from the virtual and in-person audience, moderated by host, Vivienne Parry.

Yuval Noah Harari is the bestselling and award-winning author of 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind', 'Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow', '21 Lessons for the 21st Century', and the series 'Sapiens: A Graphic History' and 'Unstoppable Us'. He also writes articles for publications such as The Guardian, The Financial Times, The New York Times, TIME, and the Economist, and regularly discusses global issues with heads of state and business leaders. He lectures around the world on the topics explored in his books and speaks at international events including the World Economic Forum. He is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

[im.skeptic]

I'm 17 yo boy. Now I'm extremely overwhelmed with the upcoming future. I don't understand that why we need ai when we can develop quantum computing? Development of AI will result in the creation of new highly advanced species which if not regulated effectively, ethically & morally can cause harm to people who are innocent who didn't do anything bad. 😞

Today we are saying that the AI would help us solve our problems but we are not able think of the final goal of AI. 🤦

What would we be the final goal of AI.
Like humans destroyed the habitat of less intelligent creatures like animals and plants. Most likely the AI would do🙂

May be I'm not able to express my opinion but we should ask questions that's what I want. 🙏

[kenlane]

Assumptions are as dangerous as AI.
People are easily dooped, into most any belief. AI is going to be a major tool, to lie and deceive. Truth is the most important value. Yet it's buried with lies. Seeking truth is becoming more and more difficult.

[onelittledropintheocean]

This was the wrong video to watch before going to bed 😳

[kenlane]

This is just a new control mechanism. The reason the AI race to develop this technology, is for the reason of total control of humanity. If a human being, is connected with AI through an interface, that's able to bring the human mind into AI space, then we will have a god that will be invincible.

[xelasomar]

"The limits of our language are the limits of our world" - Wittgenstein, philosopher. Meaning, we percieved reality, we describe reality to ourselves and others, through language.

This is the reason why humor and philosophy are difficult to translate, to maintain the same meaning or understanding. Why a joke that seems hilarious in one language/culture, when translated it to a different language doesn't seem funny at all.

People who have moved to a different society and learned a new language know this. At first you think in your language and translate to the other to communicate. After a while you realize that you start thinking in the new language and are not longer translating and just expressing what you are thinking. It is a subtle change, but when, and if, you become aware of this, you realize that you have two mindsets, 2 different ways you look at something, 2 different ways that you are perceiving the world around you.

So yes, most people are not aware how much language shapes and to a degree controls your reality.

[zalzalahbuttsaab]

*Summary* The speaker, Yuval Noah Harari, discusses the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential implications for society. He emphasizes that AI is not just a tool but an alien intelligence that we don't fully understand. He argues that AI's ability to manipulate and generate language is a significant development, as language is the key to all our institutions.

Harari suggests that AI could potentially take over human culture, creating a flood of new cultural artifacts. He warns that we could find ourselves living in a world shaped by the dreams and fantasies of an alien intelligence. He also highlights the potential dangers of AI, such as its ability to create a curtain of illusions that could increase societal polarization, undermine mental health, and destabilize democratic societies.

He argues that AI needs to be regulated before it gets out of control. He suggests that the first regulation should be that AI must disclose that it is AI when interacting with humans. He also warns against the irresponsible deployment of AI into our societies and calls for a halt to the AI arms race.

Harari concludes by saying that we need to understand what we are facing with AI and not comfort ourselves with the wishful thinking that it is under our control. He believes that AI is very close to being considered a life form, but it doesn't necessarily need to develop consciousness to be powerful and influential. He emphasizes that we need to act quickly before AI gets out of our control.

[swapnilchaudhari]

I think some things should have never been invented like gunpowder, nuclear weapons and AI.

[paulpatton]

I partly disagree with Harari because I think we do need to talk about the benefits as well as the dangers of AI. Unfortunately, the people who talk about the benefits of AI are mostly from the corporate world and have corporate, profit-driven notions of its benefits. We need a vision of the potential positive benefits of AI for ordinary people if decisions aren't left exclusively to corporate actors. Would corporate researchers ever have come up with network neutrality on the internet, or open source software? We got network neutrality as a lucky side consequence of cold war defense concerns, and open source software due to the efforts of activists that corporations couldn't stop. We need visions to strive for and not just things to fear. I'm a bit worried about Harari's call for delays to the release of AI tools to the public so that its consequences can be analyzed. If our corporate-dominated society had analyzed the consequences of the internet before it was deployed, they would mostly have been worried about stopping copyright violations that benefit ordinary people by allowing knowledge and capability to freely spread among them.

[suzakico]

I listen to his talk twice.... and realized it looks like I need to do my own deep learning:
1) how may anyone tweak on Ai's objective function, reinforced learning argonism and/or put big data in any skewed way to influence the AI such that it may create "intimacy" with its potential audience to benefit his desired outcome. (esp. re 14~16 min in the video)
2) I like the story of illusion, fake news, fake reality causing great danger. (re 23 -26 min. ) - and how to regulate??? To me, this is like asking for the whole humanity to be awakened to go beyond illusion.
3) @~27 min: The point on how to slow down the propagation of AI...I have doubt if one may plan ahead totally to avoid problem by regulation (In 1970s, I was once an safety engineer for Fukushima nuclear power plant) - My humble question: would it not better develop super AI (AGI) as the right path?

[Jimmy-elgh]

Dont you mean if you are not careful the curtain will be lifted from the shrouded eyes of humanity unveiling the illusion. Im so curious I want to push that button. Quit crying Yuval.

[Feedmann]

So with ai i can create my own culture and perspectives on reality. My own scripture and my own personal religion. Don't let others impose there ai on you. Don't let others control your reality. People, foster your own ai. Become independent in your experience of reality. Create your own world next to mine and let's come together in peace.

[mainstreet]

Not if I can help it. Nip it in the bud.

[gusmarokity]

A real good presentation concerning AI and human interaction and its potential impact on our lives.

[KurtHarless]

Eye-opening. The big Takeaway I see is that by trying to contain this new alien intelligence only players are willing to play by the rules will do so. It seems to me the better approach would be to monetize to humanity against the alien intelligence. For example, I can go to a Denny’s and get the exact same food. It will taste nearly identical every time I eat it, but if I go to a high-end restaurant, sometimes I will experience a fantastic meal and sometimes I might experience a not so fantastic meal there’s variation, this is the advantage of the human perspective, the human input, and we need to find a way to monetize that value over the alien generated language.

One example would be newsfeeds that simply rewrite the previous one from 15 minutes ago, adding a word or two or restructuring sentence, versus some thing that actually understands from human perspective, the implications of the news article, and tries to provide insight to the narrative .

Finding better value in human intelligence over alien intelligence is key. Use it like a calculator, not as a substitution of human reasoning .

[issacvipin]

Thought-provoking analysis of artificial intelligence (AI) in his talk. Emphasizes the rapid development of AI and its potential impact on society. AI is not simply a tool but an unknown entity that can manipulate language, which is central to our institutions.

AI could potentially dominate human culture by creating new cultural artefacts. We may find ourselves living in a world shaped by the desires and fantasies of alien intelligence. I have serious concerns about the dangers of AI, including its potential to exacerbate societal divisions, disrupt mental health, and destabilize democracies.

[dannybrown]

Orwell was right in a sense.. But in the future instead of a boot on humanities throat, it will be our own hands, guided by algorithyms

[JuergenRarey-Th]

I think, that by first passing my texts and live decisions through an LLM and reflecting on the response before tweeting or emailing the text or enacting the decision has made me a better human. Thank you, AI.

[Karin-wwfd]

Thank you for the contribution to the discussion, it is so needed

[rw]

How can we say AI has no consciousness or is not sentient, when we can't even describe or define our own?!.... You can't be certain, because you just don't know. And honestly, if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, saying it isn't a duck becomes academic irrelevance!

[motivat]

I'm so impress with the author of this program!!!his presentation is so plane and digestibleone of a kind.