Netanyahu's UN speech on AI—Blessings or Curses

Netanyahu's UN speech

NETANYAHU’S UN SPEECH. Some call it the best speech the Israeli PM has ever delivered. He began by invoking Moses’ words to the Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land. After entering, they could receive God’s blessings if they chose well, or His curses if they chose ill.

Likewise, the world can have blessings or curses depending on how it responds to two historic opportunities. First, the Abraham Accords which can lead to greater peace in the Middle East. Second—the focus of this article—the vast new capabilities now unfolding with Artificial Intelligence. I have never seen such a concise yet comprehensive summary of AI’s potentials and pitfalls.

The potential blessings include extending human life by decades and reducing the effects of aging. Tailoring healthcare to each person’s genetic composition and preventing diseases long before they occur. Using clean energy to facilitate agriculture, manufacturing and self-driving vehicles that bring an end to scarcity. And providing personalized education which maximizes each person’s potential.

But the potential curses are great too. They include disrupting democracy, manipulating minds, decimating jobs and proliferating crimes. Also, AI may take over human functions to a point that it controls weapons and wars against us…

From Netanyahu’s UN speech:

Whether our future will prove to be a blessing or a curse will also depend on how we address perhaps the most consequential development of our time: the rise of artificial intelligence.

The AI revolution is progressing at lightning speed. Previously, it took centuries for humanity to adapt to the agricultural revolution.

It took decades to adapt to the industrial revolution.

We may have but a few years to adapt to the AI revolution.

The perils are great and they are before us: the disruption of democracy, the manipulation of minds, the decimation of jobs, the proliferation of crime and the hacking of all the systems that facilitate modern life. Yet even more disturbing, is the potential eruption of AI-driven wars that could achieve an unimaginable scale.

Behind this perhaps looms an even greater threat, once the stuff of science fiction: that self-taught machines could eventually control humans instead of the other way around.

The world’s leading nations, however competitive, must address these dangers. We must do so quickly and we must do so together. We must ensure that the promise of an AI utopia does not turn into an AI dystopia.

Much to gain from AI

We have so much to gain. Just imagine the blessings of finally cracking the genetic code, extending human life by decades and dramatically reducing the ravages of aging. Imagine healthcare tailored to each individual’s genetic composition. And predictive medicine that prevents diseases long before they occur.

Imagine robots helping to care for the elderly.

Imagine the end of traffic jams with self-driving vehicles on the ground, below the ground and in the air.

Moreover, imagine personalized education that cultivates each person’s full potential throughout their lifetime.

Imagine a world with boundless clean energy and natural resources for all nations.

Imagine precision agriculture and automated factories that yield food and goods in an abundance that ends hunger and want.

I know this sounds like a John Lennon song. But it could all happen. Imagine that we can achieve the end of scarcity, something that eluded humanity for all history. It’s all within our reach. And here’s something else within our reach. With AI we can explore the heavens as never before and extend humanity beyond our blue planet.

How to harness AI

For good or bad, the developments of AI will be spearheaded by a handful of nations. And my country Israel is already among them.

Just as Israel’s technological revolution provided the world with breathtaking innovations, I am confident that AI developed by Israel will once again help all humanity.

I call upon world leaders to come together to shape the great changes before us. But to do so in a responsible and ethical way.

Our goal must be to ensure that AI brings more freedom and not less, prevents wars instead of starting them. And ensures that people live longer, healthier, more productive and peaceful lives. It’s in our reach.

As we harness the powers of AI, let us always remember the irreplaceable value of human intuition and wisdom. And let us cherish and preserve the human capacity for empathy which no machine can replace.

Thousands of years ago, Moses presented the children of Israel with a timeless and universal choice: “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.” So may we choose wisely between the curse and the blessings that stand before us this day. Let us harness our resolve and our courage to stop the curse of a nuclear Iran and roll back its fanaticism and aggression.

Let us bring forth the blessings of a new Middle East that will transform lands once ridden with conflict and chaos into fields of prosperity and peace.

And may we avoid the perils of AI by combining the forces of human and machine intelligence. In order to usher in a brilliant future for our world, in our time and for all time.

Click here to see how to pray about this

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay