Artificial intelligence will not become an automatic tool for finding the truth. On the contrary, it can make the information environment much more complex and make it harder to distinguish fact from fiction. This is the opinion of Israeli historian, philosopher and futurist Yuval Noah Harari.
Artificial intelligence will not become an automatic tool for finding the truth. On the contrary, it can make the information environment much more complex and make it harder to distinguish fact from fiction. This is the opinion of Israeli historian, philosopher and futurist Yuval Noah Harari.
Harari was answering a question from journalist Tom Parker during an interview at the EDP 50th anniversary gala. He was asked whether it is becoming more difficult for humanity to determine what is true in the face of the spread of artificial intelligence, deepfakes and other synthetic information.
According to the historian, the problem of finding truth arose long before the advent of AI. Throughout history, humanity has created increasingly complex systems that are difficult for the average person to fully understand.
However, the development of generative AI could significantly exacerbate this problem.
Harari draws attention to the fundamental inequality between truth and fiction.
Establishing the truth requires time and resources: finding facts, checking sources, comparing information, and assessing its reliability. Creating a fictional story is much easier.
Furthermore, a true explanation is often complex, contradictory, or unpleasant. Fiction can be made simple, understandable, and supportive of a person’s beliefs. «Fiction tends to win out if we don’t make a special effort to support the truth,» Harari said.
In his opinion, this is why humanity has created institutions that specialize in finding and verifying information. Among them, he names journalism and the scientific community.
Harari cautioned against expecting artificial intelligence to automatically solve the problem of finding reliable information.
According to him, this will not happen. On the contrary, AI will create a much more complex information environment, where it will be more difficult for a person to determine what is true.
The reason is not only deepfakes or texts created by generative models. AI is able to radically increase the amount of content that is created and distributed in the information space.
In such an environment, the problem is not only that false information can be created. It can be created faster, cheaper, and on a much larger scale.
Harari links this problem to a long-term trend in the development of human civilization.
He said that throughout history, humans have accumulated a vast amount of knowledge about physics, biology, disease, and natural processes. But at the same time, they have created increasingly complex systems on which everyday life depends.
The historian suggests comparing modern man with a hunter-gatherer who lived 50,000 years ago.
That person might know almost nothing about the complex mechanisms of animal migration, disease, or the aging process. At the same time, they had a much better understanding of the immediate environment on which their life depended.
Modern man knows much more about the world, but his life no longer depends only on nature. He is influenced by huge economic, political, technological and social systems created by humans themselves.
And the more complex these systems become, the harder it is for an individual to understand what is really going on.
According to Harari, the problem of finding truth has not only a social but also a personal dimension.
A person needs to understand the truth about their own life in order to know the sources of their happiness and suffering. Even great resources or power do not guarantee happiness if a person does not understand themselves and does not know how to properly use their capabilities.
At the same time, the truth is often painful. It can force a person to learn unpleasant things about themselves, their country, or the group they identify with.
Fiction in this sense has the advantage: it can be made pleasant, simple, and flattering to the consumer.
That is why, according to Harari, in the era of AI, the role of institutions that verify information will become even more important, not less.
