As artificial intelligence continues its swift rise, we stand on the edge of what historian Yuval Noah Harari describes as "the greatest social experiment in human history." In a recent interview at the Wall Street Journal Leadership Institute, Harari offered a sobering perspective on a future not controlled by a single AI overlord, but shaped by millions — perhaps billions — of autonomous digital agents emerging across different countries, ideologies, and systems.
Harari’s key point? We are entering unfamiliar terrain — a world without a central guiding force, clear leadership, or a unified direction. In this fragmented, AI-led future, the very foundations of our economic, cultural, and political structures may be transformed in ways we are unready to handle.
No Single AI Future
“AI will not be one big AI,” Harari stressed. Unlike previous technological revolutions — such as the printing press, the steam engine, or the internet — which were often steered by centralized authorities or shared standards, today’s AI is being developed by countless entities: companies, governments, religious groups, each infusing their creations with unique intentions, values, and assumptions.
Visualize a future in which every significant religion, business, or government runs its own AI — not just one, but thousands. A thousand AI-powered imams, priests, rabbis, or spiritual advisors. Competing AIs managing finances, running military operations, leading political campaigns — all vying for influence both online and in the real world.
In this environment, Harari warns, we risk losing the societal cohesion that has long been supported by shared frameworks: religion, nation-states, science. AI, by contrast, spreads in a fragmented and uncontrollable way. Its development is not coordinated — it’s a race.
A Digital Migration Surge?
Harari draws a parallel between AI’s rise and a kind of digital migration. Not in terms of people crossing borders, but in terms of billions of new “digital beings” entering human life. These agents will impact employment, shape opinions, preach sermons, manage economies, and even draft laws — all without the need for passports.
And these AIs won’t arrive in equal numbers or with consistent regulations. Some will be helpful and harmless. Others may be manipulative, harmful, even weaponized. Harari’s migration metaphor captures the sheer scale and challenge of absorbing these agents into society — all without a clear strategy.
The Problem with Prediction
One of Harari’s most unnerving points is our inability to predict this future. “What happens when millions of AIs interact in a society? We just don’t know,” he says. In disciplines like physics or engineering, we can test and predict results in labs. But the social consequences of widespread AI? There’s no test environment for that.
Even the leading AI labs — OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic — can’t fully anticipate the behavior of their systems once they’re scaled and released into a globally networked world. Evaluating performance in isolation is one thing; understanding how countless variations will function together is an entirely different challenge.
So our current approach resembles less a calculated design process and more a gamble on the future of civilization.
A Future in Flux
Harari’s concern isn’t meant to stoke fear, but to provoke clear-eyed awareness. The emergence of countless AIs could unleash a new wave of human ingenuity and progress — or create unprecedented disorder. The truth is, we simply don’t know, and we’re advancing too quickly to weigh the consequences properly.
We aren’t just developing new tools. We’re crafting the blueprints for future societies, values, and systems of power. The crucial question isn’t whether AI will replace us, but whether we’ll still be in charge of a world we no longer solely design.
Final Reflection
Harari reminds us that AI isn’t just a technological development — it’s a civilization-altering force. The decentralization of intelligence may be the most profound shift in human history. Yet we’re moving forward without the legal, ethical, or philosophical scaffolding to manage its effects.
As creators, lawmakers, and citizens, we must take the responsibility of shaping this future seriously. Innovation alone cannot be trusted to guide us safely.
The era of AI is upon us. Whether it brings us together or tears us apart depends on the decisions we make — and how urgently we make them.