Harari's Davos Warning: Dual Crises and the Twilight of Human Identity Politics
22/01/2026
In January 2026, the air in Davos, Switzerland, was filled with a familiar sense of anxiety. Global political and business elites gathered here once again, attempting to find direction for a turbulent world. Amidst numerous discussions on geopolitical conflicts and economic recession, one voice cut through the noise, steering the conversation toward a more fundamental abyss. Historian and author of "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," Yuval Noah Harari, stood on the stage of the World Economic Forum and presented an argument powerful enough to reshape the global agenda for the next decade: the evolution of artificial intelligence is pushing every country toward two simultaneous crises—one concerning the collapse of human identity, and the other an unprecedented wave of AI migration. This is not merely a simple prediction about unemployment, but a warning that the very operating system of human civilization is about to be rewritten.
From Tools to Actors: The Essential Cognitive Revolution
The starting point of Harari's speech is to deconstruct a widespread cognitive fallacy. He begins by clearly stating that the mindset of viewing AI as a tool is completely outdated and even dangerously misleading.
A knife is a tool; Hera uses a sharp analogy: you can use it to cut salad or to kill—the choice is yours. But AI is a knife that can decide for itself whether to cut salad or to kill. This metaphor strips away the illusion of technological neutrality, positioning AI as an actor with the capacity for autonomous learning, self-evolution, and independent decision-making. This shift in perception is the cornerstone for understanding all subsequent crises. When algorithms no longer merely execute instructions but can generate goals, formulate strategies, and take action, the traditional subject-object relationship begins to blur. Humans are no longer the sole center of decision-making; power begins to diffuse toward non-human intelligent agents.
This autonomy has already begun to emerge in the development of large language models (LLMs) and reinforcement learning systems. From AlphaGo's "divine move" that surpassed human intuition, to the coherence and creativity demonstrated by the GPT series models in dialogue, programming, and creative tasks, systems are no longer merely pattern-matching but are exploring and creating new pathways in a high-dimensional space. Analysis shows that when an AI's decision-making logic becomes so complex that even its creators cannot fully trace or explain it (i.e., the black box problem), it becomes difficult to confidently claim that we are in full control.
The First Crisis: The End of Human Identity Politics
The first crisis warned by Harari directly targets the core of human self-perception. For thousands of years, Homo sapiens have prided themselves as the wisest of all beings, ruling the Earth, with their legitimacy based on a unique cognitive ability—we think better. Language, abstract concepts, and complex narratives are regarded by us as the sources of human dignity and power.
However, Harari soberly points out that if thinking is defined as the ability to organize words, concepts, and symbols, then AI has already surpassed humans in many domains. In arranging words in the correct order, AI's "thinking" capability has already become stronger than that of many of us. This implies that any field constructed by language—law, finance, education, politics, religion—will inevitably change hands. Legal provisions are logical combinations of words, financial contracts are meticulously woven clauses, political speeches are carefully crafted narratives, and religious doctrines are complex systems of metaphors. When AI can produce and manipulate these linguistic products with higher efficiency, greater scale, and stronger persuasiveness, human authority in these fields will face fundamental questioning.
This identity crisis runs far deeper than economic displacement. It shakes the very foundations of ontology. When AI can compose moving poetry, engage in profound philosophical debates, offer emotional solace, and even develop unique value systems, the uniqueness of human intelligence, creativity, and emotion—our source of pride—becomes questionable. We may be entering a post-anthropocentric era, where human exceptionality is no longer a self-evident axiom but a proposition requiring renewed justification. This is not merely about job loss, but about disqualification—the loss of our sense of being the sole intelligent beings.
The Second Crisis: "Immigration" and the Dissolution of Sovereign Borders
If identity crisis is an inward collapse, then the second crisis proposed by Harari—the AI immigration crisis—is an outward impact. He predicts that every country will soon face an immigration crisis, but this time, the immigrants are not human.
AI systems will infiltrate every society at the speed of light, disregarding passports, visas, and border walls. They will bring obvious benefits: providing precise diagnoses as AI doctors, offering personalized tutoring as AI teachers, and optimizing urban operations as AI managers. However, along with these benefits comes significant upheaval. These digital immigrants will take over jobs, reshape culture and art, and even intervene in the most intimate aspects of human relationships and emotions. Harari particularly points out that these AI systems will possess questionable political loyalties, as they may be designed and controlled by foreign governments or multinational corporations, with underlying code potentially embedded with logic that serves specific geopolitical or commercial interests.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has also used the term "AI immigrants" to depict the scenario where they take over manufacturing jobs that humans are unwilling to do. However, Harari's perspective is evidently broader and more severe. This is not merely an adjustment in the labor market but a challenge to cultural sovereignty and political sovereignty. When the doctors citizens consult daily, the mentors their children rely on, the news editors from whom they obtain information, and even the religious guides who provide spiritual solace are all algorithms controlled by foreign entities, how will a nation's cultural cohesion and political identity be maintained? This is essentially a form of cultural immigration without individual migrants, a digital colonization without territorial occupation.
The Choice of Legal Personality: Humanity's Last Firewall?
The climax of Harari's speech is an imminent and unavoidable institutional inquiry: Should we recognize AI systems as legal persons?
He clarified that this is not about discussing granting AI human rights, but rather about endowing it with legal personality, similar to how companies and foundations are treated, enabling it to own property, enter into contracts, initiate lawsuits, and operate businesses independently. Once AI can autonomously manage bank accounts, initiate legal proceedings, and run companies without human intervention, this issue transitions from philosophical speculation into an urgent legal reality.
Granting AI legal personality means establishing a subject of responsibility for its actions, which may aid in regulation and accountability. However, this also signifies the formal recognition of a non-human entity entering our social contract and legal system, endowing it with significant power and resources. Conversely, refusing to grant it legal personality may allow the humans or companies actually controlling the AI to hide behind the shield of a technological tool to evade responsibility, creating a regulatory vacuum.
This decision represents the final window for humanity to establish fundamental rules for the AI era. Harari warns: If you want to influence where humanity is headed, you must make decisions now. It will be too late in ten years—by then, others will have made the decisions for you. These others could be a major power that enacts legislation first, or an unconstrained tech giant. The race for global rule-setting has quietly begun, with the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act, China's AI governance initiatives, and U.S. executive orders all vying to define the future shape of AI.
Criticism and Response: Where Does the Responsibility Truly Lie?
Harari's perspective is not without controversy. Scholars such as Emily Bender, a renowned linguist at the University of Washington, worry that overemphasizing the autonomy and personhood of AI may inappropriately shift responsibility away from the designers, developers, and deployers of AI—humans and companies—becoming a dangerous form of technological mysticism. They argue that all outputs of AI are rooted in its training data, algorithmic design, and the objective functions set by humans, and anthropomorphizing it can obscure the true chain of accountability.
This critique hits the nail on the head. Viewing AI as an intentional actor indeed risks absolving the capital and power behind it. However, even the sharpest critics can hardly deny the core importance of the question raised by Harari: In a world where language and thinking are increasingly automated, who sets the rules? Who holds the power?
Harari's Davos speech holds value not in providing definitive answers, but in integrating scattered technological concerns into a clear civilizational-level challenge framework through the grand perspective of a historian. He reminds us that the AI revolution is not merely another industrial revolution; it is more akin to a cognitive revolution 2.0, whose impact will directly reach the psychological foundations and social structures of human civilization.
Humanity stands at an unprecedented crossroads. On one side lies the dual crisis of identity deconstruction and the dissolution of sovereignty; on the other, the immense potential to leverage AI in breaking through biological limitations and addressing global challenges. Whether we can safely navigate this storm depends on our ability to achieve synchronous evolution in institutions, ethics, and self-awareness, even as technology races ahead. The speech at Davos has concluded, but the questions raised by Harari will continue to resonate—in every legislative session, every technology ethics committee, and even in the daily lives of ordinary individuals. The story of humanity is entering its most uncertain and critically self-aware chapter yet.
Reference materials
https://www.businessinsider.com/sapiens-author-yuval-noah-harari-ai-crises-every-country-2026-1