Overview
- At the World Economic Forum, Yuval Noah Harari said AI now outperforms many humans at organizing language and should be treated as active agents rather than passive tools.
- He argued that “anything made of words” is vulnerable, citing law, books and religions grounded in scripture such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
- Harari urged immediate decisions on whether AI will be granted legal standing for roles in markets, courtrooms and churches, warning that delay cedes the choice to others.
- He compared the technology’s spread to a new kind of immigration and invoked historical cases where hired force later seized power.
- Linguist Emily M. Bender criticized the framing as obscuring human responsibility and noted that states including Utah, Idaho and North Dakota have enacted bans on AI personhood.