Historian Yuval Noah Harari Cautions: AI Could Redefine Humanity

By Preeti Prangya Panda, MSc Biotechnology

Historian and bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari, BA, PhD, never set out to be a voice of authority on artificial intelligence. Trained in medieval military history, he admits his path to becoming a prominent commentator on AI was unexpected.

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Harari offers a sobering, wide-angled view of AI, not just as a new technology, but as a turning point in the human story.

“In many ways,” Harari reflects, “the Middle Ages are coming back.”

The Rise of a New Species

For Harari, the emergence of artificial intelligence marks the first time humanity faces competition not just in muscle, but in mind. He describes AI as “alien intelligence,” an entirely new species, not merely a smarter calculator or a more sophisticated tool.

Unlike inventions of the past, from the printing press to the atom bomb, AI is not just an instrument of human will. According to Harari, AI is not a tool but an agent that:

• makes decisions independently of us

• invents new ideas

• learns and changes by itself

In that sense, AI represents a different chapter in the human narrative. It is not an extension of our intelligence, but the birth of a separate one.

Our Role for AI

Harari states, “If we can design AI in certain ways, if we can teach them certain principles, if we can code into them certain goals, then we will be safe.”

Two major problems with this approach are:

• It can learn and change by itself: By definition, AI evolves in ways we cannot fully anticipate. It learns and changes according to your needs. If we could control it entirely, it would just be an automated tool like a coffee machine following predefined programs to produce coffee.

• It will copy your behavior: AI can learn more from role models than from rules. Like raising a child, you can teach values, but their actions will eventually surprise or disappoint you, irrespective of investment.

The Power-Wisdom Imbalance

Humanity has focused too much on power, neglecting wisdom. Harari also points to a long-standing imbalance between power and wisdom. We can send rockets to the Moon and split the atom, yet:

• we are not significantly happier than we were in the Stone Age

• we do not know how to convert power into happiness

• powerful people are not the happiest ones

“We confuse information with truth,” he says. “But the truth is a tiny subset of all information in the universe.”

Paradoxically, we are both the most intelligent and the most delusional. Harari cites religious extremism as an example: no animal believes that killing others earns paradise, only humans of some religions do.

AI in Business and Finance

Historians and entrepreneurs view time from different perspectives. For example:

• two years can be a long time for entrepreneurs

• two years is a very short period for historians

Many business leaders still think AI does not influence people. However, Harari compares this attitude to England in the early 1800s, right after the first trains were built.

At that time, most people did not understand that the Industrial Revolution was about to completely change families, politics, and economies around the world.

AI and the Religions

In the context of the AI revolution, religion, too, will not remain untouched. Text-based faiths have historically relied on human intermediaries to interpret sacred texts. Harari explains that AI can now:

• Memorize every word of the text-based scripts

• Recall every religious document ever written

• Offer instant interpretations

However, if the religion is non-text-based, it does not have the authority to do so.

AI as a Counsellor

While this may sound far-fetched to some, millions already turn to AI for emotional support, from teenagers seeking relationship advice to adults dealing with loneliness.

Displacement and the “Useless Class”

Beyond emotional support, AI also threatens to reshape the labor market.

AI has both constructive and destructive potential. Its economic impact could be more socially destabilizing than previous waves of automation.

Unlike past disruptions that affected blue-collar jobs (labor-based jobs), AI now threatens white-collar professions (office-based jobs).

The Human Trust Deficit

Harari's analysis shows that there is a deeper crisis that predates AI. Trust between nations, within societies, and among individuals is crumbling.

In this climate of suspicion and rivalry, AI will not save us. It will mirror us.

A Fragmented Future

Contrary to the popular imagination of a singular, god-like superintelligence, Harari envisions a future of many AIs, each built by different companies, governments, or religious groups, each evolving along different paths.

He points out that we have no historical precedent for millions of intelligent agents competing. “This will be the biggest social experiment in human history,” he says.

To describe this reality, he offers an analogy: AI as digital immigration. Like waves of newcomers (immigrants), AI agents will compete for jobs, change cultures, and reshape political systems, only without passports or visas, and moving at the speed of light.

“People should be far more worried about digital ones than the physical immigrants,” he says.

_MSM/SE