Although the expression “A rising tide lifts all boats” is now considered cliche, one could say the rising tide of AI implementation is certainly lifting the body of work of Yuval Noah Harari, historian, philosopher, & bestselling author, not only in the minds of scholars, but also in the minds and strategies of energy and tech companies, media and politicos alike.
His most recent book, “Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI”, published in September 2024, Harari challenges our faith in the ability of the human race to effectively solve the AI challenges that we face in 2024 and beyond. As energy companies race to implement AI strategies and attempt to calculate the real cost of AI integration in their business, the author voices a critical and cautionary message.
If you are not a student of philosophy and you are a consumer of legacy media, you may have recently heard Harari on September 27th when he appeared as a guest panelist on the HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher S22-E29. On Real Time, Harari was paired with an equally thoughtful panelist Ian Bremner, president and founder of the Eurasia Group and GZERO Media. During the show, Harari addressed the question of how AI should be regulated with a very direct comment on society’s ability to even begin to address AI.
“I think the key thing to understand about AI is that it is really different from every previous technology in history -(like nuclear weapons for example) in the sense that it’s not a tool – it’s an agent,” Harari said. ” For every previous technology in history (like atom bombs) we decided what to do with it, how to develop it, how to use it. This is the first technology that can actually make decisions by itself – that can actually invent new things, new ideas, new medicines, new bombs by itself. So we have to think about it differently than how to limit the spread of nuclear weapons for instance.”
Part of the challenge of finding a solution to any problem according to Harari is humanity`s propensity to misdiagnose or misidentify problems.
“Part of the big problem with humanity, especially with AI, is we tend to solve problems and then figure out that we solved the wrong problems. So we need to understand what we are facing before we rush to implement this or that solution.”
Ian Bremner added context, mentioning that currently the US and China are the dominant actors in both the private and public AI sectors in the world. He suggested that we can’t afford to wait for decades for Americans and Chinese to start talking about AI control agreements and begin understanding the nature of AI agents, even though there is not much trust between the two countries. He added that globally the discussion was advanced at the United Nations’ Summit of the Future and noted countries (with exception of Russia) were in agreement on a Global Digital Compact forming part of the `Pact for the Future` on Sept 22.24.
Yuval Noah Harari also participated via video in the Energy Disruptors Unite 2024 conference in Calgary last week, where he spoke about his take on information vs disinformation, the effect of 24 /7 operating computers on humans, and the profound effects of AI and algorithms becoming the editors of the information that humans consume. Harari highlighted a profound reality that society has blindly accepted – that AI /non-human intelligence have become the myth-makers of our societies. He pointed out that AI algorithms have become the editors of social media platforms which Harari says are the most important media platforms in the world. (Harari also touched on this point during the discussion with Bill Maher in Real Time and said that the algorithms managing social media should not be allowed the same rights to free speech as humans and should get “No Free Pass”).
He noted that historically, editors of newspapers have been and still are important to societies. He pointed out both Lenin and Mussolini were newspaper editors before becoming leaders of their respective countries as proof of the importance of the editorial role. However, he added that the role of editor was the first social media role to be automated. The main editorial goal of media is to increase human engagement and we have handed over what Harari refers to as “the most important job in the world” to algorithms which have discovered that triggering fear or hate, or greed is the easiest way to increase engagement. Harari believes social media companies like X and Facebook should be liable for the algorithms they create.
“They are flooding the world with junk information and nobody’s liable for that because they hide behind free speech,” Harai stated in the Real Time discussion. “We don’t want the corporation to be liable for what the human users are saying. Free speech should definitely be protected, but they should be liable for what their algorithms do.”
Another topic that Harrari addressed at Energy Disruptors 2024 was the dilemma of organic human beings, who are increasingly living in a world managed by inorganic agents- algorithms and AI. He stated that since computers run 24/7 they create a relentless timetable for humans who are organic entities and cannot survive being “on” all the time. It’s interesting to note that we now live in an era of disinformation that is being created 24/7. Harari has stated the only way to effectively combat disinformation is to replace the disinformation story with another story. He suggested that disinformation cannot be countered by just challenging facts. Harari was equally eloquent speaking about disinformation and the need for global trust during both events- the Energy Disruptors 2024 conference and Real Time.
“ The key issue is that democracy is based on trust and dictatorship is based on terror,” Harari said. “If you systematically destroy trust and institutions, destroy trust in media, in academia, in the courts and so on then people think that this is liberating people from these institutions. But when you destroy all trust, the only thing that can still work is a dictatorship. “
Political implications aside, the complications for corporations implementing AI could be considerable. Certainly the suggestion that social media corporations be liable for what their AI algorithms do or create bears much investigation as AI agents could inadvertently create other unintended agents that negatively affect business and society as a whole. Given that humans are directing, correcting and curating AI agents, could AI agents also be susceptible to similar human failings? Could AI agents also “tend to solve problems and then figure out that we solved the wrong problems?” There is much work being done to secure corporations’ AI in their Tenant Cloud on premises but could an AI agent figure out an escape? AI is still in its early stages of development with what Harai calls “primitive” forms – how rapidly will AI agents evolve?
Hearing Yuval Noah Harari speak at the Energy Disruptors 2024 conference and in the episode of Real Time made me very interested in diving into his 4th and latest book “Nexus- A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.” How can anyone resist an author who writes about the “cognitive revolution that allowed humans to approach near mastery over their environment” and also examines “the possible consequences of a futuristic biotechnological world in which those intelligent biological organisms are surpassed by their own creations.”
It is something to add to what Harari calls your “Information Diet”.
If you are concerned about “Information Overload” don’t worry. While Harari says humans need information because it’s the food of the mind – he also says we need time to digest it.
Maureen McCall is an energy professional who writes on issues affecting the energy industry.