For the Human Future: Gerd Leonhard

I went back to Yerevan, Armenia to talk about what the next five years could look like as AI accelerates faster than any technology we have ever seen. The #intelligencerevolution is here but so is the #aiemergency ! Thanks to @c‪@cubeInvestam‬or inviting me; more about the event here: https://conference.cubeinvest.am/en I share how I use AI for research, idea generation, and simple creative tasks. I explain why this “power tool” can boost productivity while also creating serious risks without strong guidelines in place. I talk about the four major revolutions - geopolitics, digital thinking machines, sustainability/clean energy, and purpose-driven capitalism- and argue that the most challenging shift is the Intelligence Revolution, where most routine work is rapidly automated and humans must focus on judgement, ethics, creativity, and trust. I warn about autonomous AI agents in finance, misalignment and cyber risks, and too much concentrated power in upcoming AI IPOs, and I argue for collaboration, wise regulation, and generally a human-centered approach to AI rather than building “digital humans” or unchecked superintelligence. https://x.com/hashtag/AIEmergency http://gerdleonhard.com/intelrev
 
YOUTUBE https://youtu.be/CoccfS28B7E?si=zkXh4plx_3a0cOE5

We are building machines that can answer almost anything. But who decides which answers matter—and what kind of future they serve? In this new GerdTalks conversation, I join futurist William “Bill” Halal to explore his new book, One World: Digital Revolution and the Rise of Global Consciousness. We tackle the AI emergency, the crucial difference between intelligence and consciousness, and why an abundance of machine knowledge makes human judgment, imagination, ethics and purpose more essential than ever. If we keep investing in smarter machines while neglecting wiser humans, we are setting ourselves up for a very expensive failure.
Can today’s crises become the catalyst for a human renaissance? Bill makes the case for an emerging age of global consciousness; I challenge whether we can get there before uncontrolled AI, geopolitical rivalry and distorted economic incentives push us towards the bad future. From business beyond shareholder profits to global cooperation and leadership that serves future generations, we explore what must change - and who must change it. The destination matters as much as the technology: People, Planet, Purpose, Peace and Prosperity. A good future demands that we take responsibility for building it.  YT: https://youtu.be/J5bJv-R7CF4?si=RRnJ5nJpznwi3Y0A

AI and AGI: Heaven or Hell? The Next 5 Years Will Redefine Humanity. The rise of intelligent machines and cognitive computing is fundamentally changing our world, making the shift we are experiencing equivalent to the Industrial Revolution—but a thousand times greater.
Are we heading for "heaven or hell" aka #hellven ? In this custom-edited #superkeynote recording I dive into the massive convergence of humans and machines, where AI systems, now capable of creating content and generating a strange kind of non-human / alien intelligence, are getting exponentially smarter.
What's at Stake: • AI presents an ultimate test for humanity‘s ability to collaborate. We could reach "heaven" ie #thegoodfuture by using intelligent systems to solve humanity's biggest challenges—from cancer and climate change to inventing nuclear fusion and new medications.
• or the future could be "hell" if we don’t have guardrails and regulation and standards, allowing two or three private companies to essentially reinvent humanity. Concerns rage about the declared goal of companies like OpenAI to build Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), systems that could surpass humans in pretty much all tasks.
• Economic Disruption: AI is reducing the cost of knowledge production to zero marginal cost. Searches for products on Google are already declining as people turn to chatbots like ChatGPT to find things. Routines are being automated by machines, putting jobs that are 80% routine in reach of total automation
• The Crisis of Consciousness: We are outsourcing our thinking to chatbots ? This "cognitive outsourcing" risks mental atrophy and is certain to be dangerous for democracy. We are at a Fork in the Road Moment We are at a critical moment in humanity. The old paradigm of "profit, growth, power" is fundamentally incompatible with AI. We need a new direction—a Purpose Revolution based on people, planet, purpose, peace and prosperity. I argue that we must treat AI as a powerful TOOL for augmentation and "magic," and avoid the trap of building machines designed to replace us or create an "AI god". We must collaborate, support legislation like the "Red Lines of AI," and ensure we remain the architects of our future, not its victims.
Will we use AI for the good of humanity, or will we build systems fueled by greed and set up for self-destruction? Watch now to understand the choices facing us in the next five years!

A riveting conversation with #futurist and #publicthinker Gerd Leonhard and the Belgian digital innovation leader, thinker and author Jo Caudron, about The Future of Europe, covering AI, Digital Sovereignty and the concept of #takingbacktomorrow, as well as Jo's new book "F*CK the System and Other Bad Ideas for the Future" see https://www.jocaudron.com/ftsbook
 
***Watch this show on my new TV platform https://www.gerd.tv/programs/reviving... and get free language dubs, pdf downloads etc -- Free access *** Keynote Topic details: • Why and How Europe must Take Back Tomorrow...
 
Jo and Gerd share a deep history in future work and digital innovation, and have both recently undergone profound shifts in their focus and direction. After 100s of keynotes, workshops and seminars, both Jo and Gerd have started to transition to looking at more fundamental questions about humanity's future, moving beyond corporate strategy and business challenges to explore the boundary between human roles and machine capabilities. In this powerful dialogue recorded on July 24, 2026, Jo and Gerd highlight several key ideas:
The Transition to Societal Issues: Jo notes that while digital disruption used to be the main driver, other major issues like climate change, housing affordability, and an ageing population are equally critical disruptors. Meanwhile, Gerd has pivoted his work toward advocacy and the theme "For the Human Future", focus on what humans actually want from technology and to navigate the Intelligence Revolution see gerdleonhard.com/intelrev
Europe's Sovereign Future: Rather than viewing Europe as a "sick old man"Jo describes it as a teenager being forced to mature and find self-reliance as the US pulls back its support, and friendship. Gerd argues that Europe must transition from a mere "market project" to a "state project" by pooling its sovereignty to stay strong against external pressures.
Stepping Out of the AI Race: Jo advocates for Europe to step out of the race for military or frontier AI dominance and instead focus on the application of AI to improve society and the economy, overall
The Power of Storytelling**: Both agree that Europe struggles with strong narratives and communication. To counter pessimistic outlooks and populism, they champion the need for a compelling European narrative, such as "I Love the Future" and "Taking Back Tomorrow" initiatives proposed by Gerd
 
You can download more details, PDFs, videos and images on this topic from https://lovethefuture.eu/ and Gerd's blog

This is an excerpt from my keynote at DHL last month, watch it here:    • The Human Future in the Age of Exponential...   Europe Futures:    • Why and How Europe must Take Back Tomorrow...   I address the geoeconomic and geopolitical revolutions as the American president breaks pretty much all political norms, triggering chain reactions. I cite the European Commission’s frank assessment that the United States is "no longer a friend", and explain how that shifts Europe’s calculations on where to invest and whether the dollar will remain the lead currency. Europe is “getting divorced” from the U.S. - painful but really overdue - while noting that, like any divorce, cooperation or even reconciliation could still happen. I argue Europe’s identity centres on humanism and human flourishing, and I raise the challenge of sovereignty given that 96% (258 billion euros per year) of Europe’s IT budget goes to America. I end with the push to grow European AI amid regulation and growing doubts about trusting the U.S. government and Silicon Valley tech companies. And of course #europe must absolutely prioritize innovation NOW.

The next ten years will bring more change to our world than the previous one hundred years (no, that's not hyperbole). We are moving rapidly out of the era of extraction - where we mined oil & fossil fuels, land & agriculture, and then, data - and are entering a massive civilizational reset driven by AI and the intelligence revolution. This is a powerful yet challenging convergence of three major shifts: the digital transformation, the sustainable transition where "green is the new digital," and the human transformation (new economics, and the shift towards purpose). We must now focus on using these amazing technologies to empower us, to cognify and augment ourselves rather than to pursue full automation and end up with "cognitive surrender," delegating our thinking to machines. While AI's excel at raw logic, they completely lack our uniquely human-only skills like intuition, emotional intelligence, creativity, and wisdom (but yes, sure they will attempt to simulate them ;). To build a truly "good future," we cannot rely on technology alone; we must balance our advanced tools and 'digital agents' with a clear telos—the Greek word for purpose and direction. The future is not a predetermined path, and it does not simply happen to us!  Youtube

In this talk, edited and updated from my AIVolution 2024 keynote in Lisbon, I explain how and why #artificialintelligence increasingly mimics and SIMULATES being human, and why the distinction between HI and AI matters. Simulation of existence is not the same as existence. Intelligence is not consciousness.
Trust isn't digital. I think AI is the biggest economic and societal shift in the past 100 years, and that we must urgently avoid repeating the colossal fossil fuel-era mistake of simply chasing profits while ignoring almost all side effects. Yes, AI is a unique power tool that could (will) boost learning, productivity, research and healthcare, but also brings deep and increasingly existential risks, from fraud and misinformation to autonomous weapons, and the overall loss of human control. 
I distinguish mere “intelligent assistance” (IA) from dangerous ambitions for general machine intelligence (AGI), calling for human-centered leadership, education that teaches “learning to learn,” strong but wise regulation, and keeping humans in the loop to build a good future focused on people, planet, purpose, and prosperity. 
 
TIME CODES 00:00 AI Is Not Human 00:38 Lessons From Industrial Age 02:30 AI As Power Tool 03:23 Learning On Demand 03:50 Deepfakes And Risk 05:14 Meaning Over Data 07:19 Three Revolutions Ahead 09:05 Purpose And Sustainability Shift 13:09 Intelligent Assistance Era 15:12 Against General AI 17:16 Defining Machine Knowledge 20:01 Tacit Knowledge Limits 20:22 Tacit vs Explicit 20:55 From Routine to Experience 21:28 AI Assistants and Humanoids 22:48 Leadership Needs Humanity 23:54 Sci-Fi Myths and Reality 25:20 Who Controls AI 27:23 Automation Reality Check 31:19 Effort Makes It Real 32:56 Rebooting Economic Logic 34:00 Future Mindset and Leadership 36:11 Human in the Loop 37:05 Thanks and Wrap Up
TIME CODES
00:00 AI Is Not Human 00:38 Lessons From Industrial Age 02:30 AI As Power Tool 03:23 Learning On Demand 03:50 Deepfakes And Risk 05:14 Meaning Over Data 07:19 Three Revolutions Ahead 09:05 Purpose And Sustainability Shift 13:09 Intelligent Assistance Era 15:12 Against General AI 17:16 Defining Machine Knowledge 20:01 Tacit Knowledge Limits 20:22 Tacit vs Explicit 20:55 From Routine to Experience 21:28 AI Assistants and Humanoids 22:48 Leadership Needs Humanity 23:54 Sci-Fi Myths and Reality 25:20 Who Controls AI 27:23 Automation Reality Check 31:19 Effort Makes It Real 32:56 Rebooting Economic Logic 34:00 Future Mindset and Leadership 36:11 Human in the Loop 37:05 Thanks and Wrap Up

Green is the new digital People planet purpose and prosperity Invest as much in humanity as you invest in technology!
 
00:00 - Intro 00:39 - I'm very optimistic about global warming and climate change 02:15 - The machines will take our jobs and then harvest our bodies for energy 04:41 - The 3 Revolutions: Digital, Sustainability and Purpose 13:35 - If you work like a robot, the robot will take your job 23:18 - Oil and gas is becoming a crime scene 26:47 - Green is the new digital 35:51 - Societies are driven by their technology, but not defined by their humanity 45:30 - All tech companies need to come up with the technocratic oath

From a keynote in Medellin, I argue for a human-centered AI that benefits everyone, and the Universal Basic Capital Fund.