Happy summer SRU members! Summer marks the beginning of good weather (for most) and a time for leisure, relaxation, and rejuvenation. It also marks the end of graduation season with scholars, celebrities and songwriters weighing in with words of wisdom for recent graduates. In reviewing some of the best speeches (I highly recommend country singer Eric Church’s address to the University of North Carolina), I was struck by how many of them addressed the dangers and opportunities presented by technology, particularly AI. At the college graduation of my daughter, the commencement address struck a balance between hopefulness and realism in addressing the advent of AI and what AI meant for this graduating class as they enter the workforce. The basic advice of the commencement speaker was not to be fearful, gain foundational knowledge of AI, become adept in using it, and harness it to your advantage before it harnesses you.

In addition to the ubiquitous nature of the AI topic, I have noted the wide spectrum of perceptions of AI among Generation Zer’s, with almost half of young Americans describing the dangers of AI as “serious.” Reflecting this anxiety, one commencement speaker at a Florida university was lustily booed by graduates when she described AI as the next “Industrial Revolution.” This trepidation is further reflected in polling, which indicates that …  read more