I have been waiting to see what World Economic Forum philosopher of transhumanism, Yuval Noah Harari, would say about the present runaway AI debate. And, true to form, he says that AI has hacked the operating system of human civilisation. While I expected him to welcome the runaway advances, he advanced an argument that AI through commanding control over language, as the chat bots are beginning to do, could result in the undermining of democracy, which would have possible chaotic effects. He hopes to see a blissful merger of man and machine, but has not detailed how the billions of the world population are going to make the transition, especially if democracy is undermined. Perhaps, as he has suggested in other talks, that most people do not transition, and simply fall through the cracks in the floor of postmodernity.
“Artificial intelligence is shaking up the world. While experiments and research in this sub-field of computer science have been ongoing for decades, the recent launch of OpenAI’s powerful chatbot ChatGPT seems to be a seminal point in the timeline of AI technologies. The chatbot’s astounding abilities have led many companies to try their hands at developing their own chatbots or even integrating similar AI in their products and services.
Since time immemorial, new technologies or innovations have witnessed fear and awe before they were embraced by mankind. Most new inventions have been met with shock and apprehension, with many either hailing them or downright condemning them. The ongoing AI wave is no different. While many have heaped praise on it, there is scepticism in equal measure.
Yuval Noah Harari, known for the acclaimed non-fiction book Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind, in his latest article in The Economist, has said that artificial intelligence has “hacked” the operating system of human civilization. The Israeli public intellectual has been known for his comments on the opportunities and threats from AI in recent times.
The root of the fear
In his latest article, he argues that the fear of AI has haunted humanity ever since the beginning of the computer age. However, he said that the newly emerged AI tools in recent years could threaten the survival of human civilization from an “unexpected direction.”
He demonstrated how AI could impact culture by talking about language, which is integral to human culture. “Language is the stuff almost all human culture is made of. Human rights, for example, aren’t inscribed in our DNA. Rather, they are cultural artifacts we created by telling stories and writing laws. Gods aren’t physical realities. Rather, they are cultural artifacts we created by inventing myths and writing scriptures,” wrote Harari.
He stated that democracy is also a language that dwells on meaningful conversations, and when AI hacks language it could also destroy democracy.
The author said that the rise of AI is having a profound impact on society, affecting various aspects of economics, politics, culture, and psychology. The 47-year-old wrote that the biggest challenge of the AI age was not the creation of intelligent tools but striking a collaboration between humans and machines.”