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Which profession will AI replace first: doctors or nurses? How will AI change the way banks hand out loans?
Historian Yuval Harari of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shows us how this once vague idea of an AI world is slowly becoming a reality. AI technology has already started replacing people in a variety of industries. However, we have yet to see any substantial discussions about the concerns of an AI-centric future and how it will affect hundreds of millions - if not billions - of people and their livelihoods. What social and economic changes should we be preparing for?

In line with GREAT MINDS’ 2022 theme of “the coexistence of technology and humanity,” Yuval Harari explores the relationship between humans, technological advancement, and happiness. While humankind has been successful at harnessing powers such as energy and AI technology, have we been successful at converting that progress into happiness?

At some point humans began developing technology in order to obtain a level of power that only our imagined gods of the past had been able to wield. But with great power comes even greater responsibility. Is humankind indeed ready to handle such god-like power and responsibility? Yuval Harari offers us a glimpse into the future of humanity as we learn to live with these unprecedented technological advancements. In his first lecture Yuval Harari goes over human progress throughout history to predict the future of humankind. How have humans constructed the world to lead us to where we are today? He warns us that our incredible gift as humans to create and believe “fiction” can lead to some unfortunate consequences. But what does he mean by “fiction”?

While technological developments have given us unprecedented prosperity, it has also brought about unforeseen threats to our existence. We will learn about three threats we face in the 21st century and Professor Harari’s thoughts on how to handle them in his second lecture. From automated factories to driverless deliveries, technologies are entering more and more areas of our daily lives than we could have ever imagined. How can humans defend their livelihoods from being rendered useless by these technologies?

In his third lecture Yuval Harari explores the importance of education as a solution and emphasizes the need for a safety net, not regional or national ones, but a worldwide failsafe to protect our species as a whole.

We live in a world that is run by data. More than any other advancements, data has the power to bring safety to our daily lives. However, if placed in the wrong hands, it can be a weapon more dangerous than conventional weapons of war. In his fourth and final lecture Yuval Harari suggests some basic principles that should be adhered to in order to live in a world that benefits from the use of data to improve our lives. Yuval Harari will give us a better understanding of the world of AI with interesting case studies and show us the social, economic, and political changes we will likely encounter.