Csaba Kollár: “I am a humanist, but I really like AI”

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/4.

– If someone isn’t watching but only listening, how can they tell if it is two people talking to each other?

– It is hard to answer this question, because artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved so much recently that it is now possible to compose a virtual environment in which it looks like we are talking, but it is actually a machine talking to a machine.

– Do you think it will be possible to replace reporters, musicians or artists in full?

– The question is how much humanity values human intelligence. In the art world there has long been a debate whether a performance in which a machine operates some kind of technology is art or not. One thing is for sure, as long as we respect human intelligence, we respect the images or works of art created by human intelligence.

This time, Szilvia Krizsó’s conversation partner was cyberneticist and futurologist Csaba Kollár

– Can technology replace humanity?

– We need to study the programmers, the clients who commission AI development and their goals. If we continue to accept Asimov’s laws, which state that robots or AI can’t turn against humans, then we are witnessing a humanistic development with lots of results that could make our lives better.

– Israeli historian Yuval Harari says AI can be used to push many people – almost everyone – out of the labour market.

– Many people are perhaps afraid of AI because they don’t fully grasp how it works, because we can think in so many operational dimensions. But what is really interesting is that AI is going to replace a lot of jobs or positions. In this matter capital may have a decisive say. I have no fears about anyone’s job, because on the other hand there will be many new professions.

– AI can be used to support a lot of decisions. In such cases do errors occur because it is a human who will finally make the decision or because it will be AI making the final decision, since the given person would say: AI can see the context from the data better than a mere mortal?

– When we talk about running a company, we aren’t dealing with machines but with people. If you take human intelligence and human focus out of the equation, you might increase profits by 30%, but what is the point of that from the manager’s point of view if they burn out, if they can’t retain the human quality that makes us human. I am a humanist in that respect. That said, I really like AI, but there is no such thing as a 100% system.

„If we live in a world that is too technologically focused or too machine-dominated, the whole world becomes dehumanised, and that’s not good for us.”

– Do you think a point in time is going to come when we will give up control to such a degree that it will launch irreversible processes?

– We need to see that AI offers solutions, but we have a free will to say no at any time. Humans are genetically social beings, they need human interaction. However, I am not sure I need human-human interaction when I write to AliExpress about a bad product I ordered and want my money back. But when we do ask for it, AI can take a step back, so to speak. //