AI Bots Playing Pretend Could Spell Disaster For Tech Industry, Says Yuval Noah Harari: '... 20 Years In Jail'

With the rise of artificial intelligence, particularly chatbots like OpenAI’s chatGPT, the prevalence of bots impersonating real people on social media platforms poses a significant threat, raising concerns about the future of trust and democracy. 

What Happened: Last week, renowned author and historian Yuval Noah Harari addressed the UN’s AI for Good summit in Geneva, shedding light on a concerning issue plaguing the tech industry: the proliferation of AI bots on social media masquerading as real individuals.

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The “Sapiens” author emphasized that it has become possible to generate billions of fake people for the first time in history, blurring the lines between human users and sophisticated AI bots. 

He warned that this phenomenon could have dire consequences, as the ability of these bots to create content superior to what humans can produce threatens to undermine trust, democratic processes, and control over the public conversation. 

Harari emphasized the need for stringent measures against such bots suggesting severe penalties as a potential solution. He proposed that tech executives and platform owners who allow these fake personas to infiltrate their platforms without effective countermeasures should face significant consequences, including the possibility of 20 years of imprisonment. 

“If you fake people, or if you allow fake people on your platform without taking effective countermeasures, so maybe we don’t execute you, but you go to 20 years in jail,” he said.

Watch the complete interaction here: 

Why It’s Important: Previously, Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI and then left, announced that only paid subscribers on Twitter would be able to participate in polls on the platform. According to the tech billionaire, the decision was taken to “address advanced AI bot swarms taking over” because otherwise, it was a “hopeless losing battle.” 

Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock.com

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