On Sunday, 29th March 2026, the Friends of New Acropolis hosted a special event – ‘Being Human in the age of AI’– a talk and dinner with National Director Yaron Barzilay. The discussion moved thoughtfully across multiple perspectives, cautioning against two common extremes. On one hand lies the utopian belief that AI will solve all human problems and create a perfect world. On the other is the dystopian fear that it will lead us toward loss of control and eventual downfall. Yaron guided the audience to look beyond both, offering a balanced and grounded understanding—
AI is, at its core, a tool. Like any tool, its impact depends entirely on how wisely and consciously we choose to use it.
At the heart of the conversation was the idea of human intelligence—not merely as the ability to process information, but as the capacity to discern, reflect, and make meaningful choices.
Intelligence allows us to stay connected with ourselves, to engage in the enduring philosophical pursuit – to “know thyself.”
The concern is not that machines will become intelligent, but that humans may stop exercising their own intelligence. As Yaron aptly concluded, a smartphone cannot make us smart, and artificial intelligence cannot make us truly intelligent. Ultimately, the session left attendees with a powerful takeaway: our relationship with AI must be guided by wisdom, philosophy and our own intelligence.
