WASHINGTON: “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert spoke to a historian regarding the future Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have on human civilization, arguing he looks forward to when society is run by machines rather than people. Colbert hosted author Yuval Noah Harari, observing that Harari has not only written extensively regarding humanity’s past, but about its potential future as well.
The host argued that it feels as if “this generation is undergoing a more fast change of their technological atmosphere than ever before,” but hedged by saying that every generation perhaps feels this way and later asking, “Is it real that we are really going through some sort of fast-tracking change?”
The guest argued this is genuinely the case for today’s generation, because while people of the past could not forecast disasters or invasions. He was of the view that the basic stuff of human life, like the basic skills,” were what remained consistent. He explained that for previous generations, “you are going to need to teach your children how to plant wheat and rice, and how to ride a horse, because it will still be relevant in 20 years.” The present year is different, he argued, as “Today no one has any idea what to teach young people that will still be applicable in 20 years.”
Colbert said that he is ready for the machines to tell them what to do, however, Harari replied that it is extremely dangerous “to give power to something we don’t understand.” Harari was of the view that AI is radically different even from previous world-changing technologies. Harari said that AI is the first technology in history they can make decisions by itself.
