Professor Muhammad Yunus warned that the world faces a defining choice between an AI-driven future that concentrates wealth in fewer hands and a new "civilisation of sharing" built on human creativity and inclusion.
Speaking at the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Yunus said humanity is standing "at the end of one civilisation and the beginning of another", arguing that the existing model has failed in its most fundamental responsibility.
"The civilisation we are leaving behind has failed in its central task. We have destroyed the planet," he said, describing environmental degradation and the growing concentration of wealth as the two defining failures of the current era.
Turning to artificial intelligence, Yunus challenged the notion that technological progress alone would solve these problems. Instead, he warned that AI is likely to accelerate wealth concentration by placing even greater resources and power in the hands of a few.
He also argued that the debate over AI should extend beyond concerns about job losses. The real problem, he said, is that society has conditioned people to become job seekers rather than innovators.
"Human beings are creators and innovators by nature, not people built to take orders," he said.
Yunus placed young people at the centre of shaping the future, describing today's generation as the smartest in history because of its access to information and willingness to challenge established systems.
Rather than telling young people what to do, he said, leaders should ask them what kind of world they want to build and what is missing from the one they have inherited.
"We should create a future world that we can truly be proud of," he told delegates, urging participants to present concrete ideas throughout the Assembly.
The gathering brought together Nobel laureates, former heads of state and government, religious leaders and young people from around the world.
During the Assembly, Nobel laureates including Romano Prodi, Jody Williams, Maria Ressa, Denis Mukwege and Juan Manuel Santos signed a joint declaration warning that the convergence of artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons poses an unprecedented threat to humanity.
The event concluded with the signing of the Rome Declaration on an Unarmed and Disarming Peace in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Weapons at Rome's Capitoline Hill.