New Delhi: Historian and author Yuval Noah Harari has warned that artificial intelligence may reshape the world in ways humanity cannot fully comprehend, urging governments to intervene before society loses its grip on shared facts and public trust. Speaking in a recent interview, Harari emphasized that unlike previous human inventions, advanced AI operates with a degree of autonomy that marks a fundamental departure from traditional tools.
Harari described artificial intelligence not as an instrument under human control, but as an active agent capable of making independent decisions and generating new ideas. He characterized the technology as an alien form of intelligence that thinks and functions beyond human patterns. As these autonomous agents infiltrate financial institutions, governmental bodies, and industrial sectors, he cautioned that individuals may struggle to comprehend the complex systems dictating their daily lives.
A central theme of his warning is the rapid deterioration of societal trust. According to Harari, civilization rests entirely upon trust, which is currently fading as reality becomes increasingly difficult to verify. He noted that the proliferation of artificial content and deceptive information threatens the foundational facts required for people to interpret events accurately and make informed collective decisions.
The historian also pointed to social media algorithms as catalysts for public division. By exploiting human evolutionary responses to danger, online platforms continuously serve alarming material that fuels anger and polarization. He advocated for responsible journalism, urging reporters to prioritize truth over sensationalism for clicks, and suggested implementing nutritional-style warning labels for digital content, describing social media as the dietary input for the human mind.
To counter these growing risks, Harari called on political leaders to slow down technological rollouts, establish strict regulations, and hold tech companies accountable for their deployment of dangerous algorithms. While he does not advocate for a total halt to technological progress, he insists that society must institute robust safeguards and maintain human supervision. Harari concluded that while humanity must adapt to ongoing historical change, it must do so wisely while preserving trust, demanding corporate responsibility, and safeguarding human agency.