Historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari has warned that artificial intelligence could eventually control the financial and bureaucratic systems that govern human lives, leaving people unable to understand how decisions that shape their futures are made.
Why Yuval Noah Harari Compares Humans to Cows
In an interview with Czech public television earlier this month, Harari argued that humanity’s dominance stems from its ability to build complex institutions that allow millions of people to cooperate.
Financial markets, banks, courts, governments and religions enable people to coordinate their activities on a massive scale, giving humanity power no individual could achieve alone.
However, Harari said animals cannot understand the invisible systems humans create, even when those systems determine their lives.
He compared this to a cow’s inability to comprehend money, banking, or bond markets, even though those institutions shape its fate.
"Even if you’re an animal rights activist and you try to explain to the cow … there is the stock exchange and there is the bond market," Harari said, questioning how an animal could understand the financial structures governing its existence.
Why AI Could Take Over Banks and Bureaucracies
Harari argued that AI’s potential threat does not necessarily involve humanoid robots attacking people. Instead, AI could gain power by taking over the complex administrative systems humans struggle to manage.
He described AI as a "bureaucratic native," explaining that people evolved long before modern institutions emerged, while AI is being developed specifically to process information and navigate complex systems.
"No human banker can remember all the transactions of the bank. An AI banker can," he said.
As AI systems become more capable, they could create increasingly sophisticated financial and legal structures that even their human operators struggle to comprehend.
‘We Will Not Be Able to Understand,’ Says Harari
Harari warned that this growing complexity could leave people dependent on systems they cannot meaningfully understand or control.
"Just as cows can’t understand the financial system that controls their lives today, we will not be able to understand the AI financial system that will control our lives in 10 or 20 years," he said.
He also noted that money is fundamentally a system of trust that allows strangers across different societies to cooperate. If AI transforms financial systems beyond human comprehension, that trust could be tested.
"Which means that we are the cows of the future," Harari said.
Yuval Noah Harari’s Books and Background
Born in Israel in 1976, Harari earned his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2002.
He has taught in the History Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and served as a Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.
Harari is the author of several books, including Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI and the series Sapiens: A Graphic History and Unstoppable Us.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Koupei Studio on Shutterstock.com
© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
