'A Turning Point in History': Yuval Noah Harari on AI’s Cultural Takeover

Historian Yuval Noah Harari says that we are at a critical turning point. One in which AI’s ability to generate cultural artifacts threatens humanity’s role as the shapers of history. History will still go on, but will it be the story of people or, as he calls them, ‘alien AI agents’? In this conversation with Aza Raskin, Harari discusses the historical struggles that emerge from new technology, humanity’s AI mistakes so far, and the immediate steps lawmakers can take right now to steer us towards a non-dystopian future. This episode was recorded live at the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology . Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_ RECOMMENDED MEDIA NEXUS: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari You Can Have the Blue Pill or the Red Pill, and We’re Out of Blue Pills: a New York Times op-ed from 2023, written by Yuval, Aza, and Tristan The 2023 open letter calling for a pause in AI development of at least 6 months, signed by Yuval and Aza Further reading on the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment Further reading on AlphaGo’s “move 37” Further Reading on Social.AI RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES This Moment in AI: How We Got Here and Where We’re Going The Tech We Need for 21st Century Democracy with Divya Siddarth Synthetic Humanity: AI & What’s At Stake The AI Dilemma Two Million Years in Two Hours: A Conversation with Yuval Noah Harari Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.