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Does AI really change the world?

In his 2015 book titled Geek Heresy, Kentaro Toyama, a University of Michigan professor and fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, coined the term “Law of Amplification,” which suggests technology only amplifies underlying human forces — improving things where individuals and institutions are well-intentioned and capable, but having little or negative impact where human forces are indifferent, dysfunctional, or corrupt.

But does AI adhere to this law? Researchers are finding that AI has the capacity to change people’s minds. Separately, agentic interactions with no humans in the loop complicate the matter as AI agentic civilizations move from hypotheticals to reality.

We sit down with Toyama to explore why he believes AI is different from any tech that preceded it, whether it is amplifying good or bad actors differently right now, and whether it is breaking the law altogether by substituting for or creating beyond existing human capacity

When: Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Time: 9am ET / 1 pm UK / 6:30 pm IST

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