Roundtable No. 4 “Preserving Human And Societal Agency in the Age of AI?”
“Human Curiosity as a Foundation of Intellectual Agency in the Age of AI”
Moderated By Alexander Asafov, Member Of Duma Of The Russian Federation
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
24 October 2026
Before I begin, two date notes of significance. Today, in 1945, the New York, New York-based United Nations (UN) was created. Today, in 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph was sent in the United States. Two moments, each about communication and connectivity. Appropriate given our objectives at this two-day gathering.
Increasingly and perilously, the social architecture of societies- countries, nations, states, are framed by the terms in office of heads of state and heads of government.
The longer the term in office, the more consequential- for the good or the bad, is a government’s impact upon social architecture and specifically its engagement with and deployment of Artificial Intelligence to achieve its goals impacting taxpayers and voters.
Artificial Intelligence (or Super Intelligence as one head of state rebranded it) does have the capability, capacity, likelihood, and potential to rot your brain like crack cocaine.
The use of Artificial Intelligence will not kill us all, but it will kill some of us.
The expansion of the use of Artificial Intelligence may have met an insurmountable object- every action has reaction.
Likely, me and most of my colleagues at this Roundtable will not be impacted as dramatically as will the younger members of our audience.
The strength and impact of Artificial Intelligence is directly related to the curiosity of individuals and society.
The less curious, the weaker the individuals and society are, the stronger is the acceptability of Artificial Intelligence.
One unknown is if Artificial Intelligence have a trajectory similar to what are defined as “social media” platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Tik Tok, Twitter, X, and others.
Their creation was mostly hailed as instruments for engagement while their maturity is mostly hailed as destructive and their demise is for many welcomed.
To date, the most resilient constraints upon the development and implementation of Artificial Intelligence are not from programmers, not from companies, and not from governments.
Electricity, real estate, and water are the nutrients required to construct and then operate data centers.
Simultaneously, electricity, real estate, and water are the constraints upon the construction and operation of data centers.
In my role with the New York, New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, I wanted an image which might answer a question.
What would be required for the government of the Republic of Cuba and the government of the United States to each do something because neither could permit further suffering- the human crisis impacting approximately 9.5 million in the Republic of Cuba?
I thought of what was yet to be seen. There is poverty, there is infrastructure decay, there is food insecurity. There is death.
Yet, there is no Sudanese-like death, no Gaza-like suffering, no famine- human-made or from nature. The situation is bad, but since the 1959 Revolution, the situation has never been ideal, for a variety of factors.
The U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council asked a Costume Illustrator to create three images of an old woman, dead, her dirty lifeless body atop a pile of garbage on a street in Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. These are those three images:
This is the image selected to include an in a published analysis on 6 August 2026 by the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council:
Link: Will This Moment Force Havana To Change And Force Washington To Intervene? August 06, 2026
If this image were real, if it were published by globally AP, BBC, AFP, Reuters, RT, TASS, Xinhua and other media, then Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of the Republic of Cuba (2019-2028), in Havana and Donald Trump, President of the United States (2017-2021 and 2025-2029), in Washington DC would have to act.
They would need to respond. They would need to do something.
Fortunately, thus far, the image content remains created by Artificial Intelligence rather than reflecting reality in the Republic of Cuba.
It remains artificial rather than real.
A question for debate is whether the creation of this image and then use of this image is an appropriate use of Artificial Intelligence? Does the end- seeking action justify the means? Making it up to get there?
This is why retaining curiosity is essential to management engagement with and the image of Artificial Intelligence.
