The Historian, The Scientist, And The CEO

Yuval Noah Harari, the bestselling author of some of Silicon Valley’s most required reading, had serious chats with two of its most important figures.

Early last week, Harari had a convo/debate with Fei-Fei Li, AI pioneer and co-director of Stanford’s recently announced institute for ethical, human-centered AI.

• Harari predicted a parochial AI arms race and a widened geopolitical gulf between AI’s best (the U.S. and China) and the rest.
• Li said cross-disciplinary, global AI collaboration can stop that from happening, and added that she’s “envious” of philosophers who don’t need to build solutions.

On Friday: A tête-à-tête with Mark Zuckerberg, who spun a largely positive narrative about social media, internet platforms, and the algorithms behind them. Harari parried, saying they’re fragmenting society, funneling wealth into a small class of techno-elites, and eroding independent thinking.

It’s a sign of our times: The philosopher asks tough questions but isn’t in the driver’s seat. The AI pioneer frets over the status quo but resolves to build a better future. The executive, meanwhile, says today’s technological forces are for the greater good.