Fareed Zakaria told Bard grads we're asking the wrong question about AI

3 days ago 17

Fareed Zakaria, dressed in a navy suit with a blue tie, talks onstage.

Fareed Zakaria says he thinks humans still have a competitive advantage over AI.

During his commencement speech at Bard College in New York, the CNN host and Washington Post columnist said artificial intelligence is advancing with "astonishing speed and power." Still, he argued that the rise of AI should prompt people to think less about competing with machines and more about what makes human intelligence distinct.

"So people naturally ask: 'What will be left for human beings to do?'" he said. "But, perhaps that's the wrong question. The better question is, 'What does AI tell us about all the things we humans already do — and that are distinctive and irreplacable?'"

Zakaria's speech came as mentions of AI keep drawing loud protests at college commencement speeches. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed while talking about AI and automation at the University of Arizona, while real-estate executive Gloria Caulfield was loudly jeered for bringing up the technology during her speech at the University of Central Florida.

Those viral responses helped Zakaria pre-empt the audience.

"At this point, I need to give you a trigger warning," he told graduates early in the speech. "So I should warn you that I am about to utter the two most provocative letters in the English language today: AI."

The mention of artificial intelligence drew jeers from the crowd.

"Feel free to get the booing out of the way," he said.

Zakaria framed the rest of his speech around another two-letter initialism: HI, or human intelligence.

He pointed to the human brain, which he said weighs about three pounds and runs on roughly 20 watts of power — less energy than a laptop charger. AI systems, by contrast, can require data centers that consume enough electricity to power entire cities, he said. Human intelligence, Zakaria argued, is more efficient.

It is also better suited to the messy work of being human: reading emotions, understanding context, forming relationships, making art, and finding meaning in lived experience.

"A machine can write a sad poem, but it cannot weep at a funeral," he said. "The more powerful AI becomes, the more we may rediscover how much we value the distinctly human."