Ben Vinson III, president of the Howard University, made a convincing appeal for artificial intelligence to be “developed with wisdom”, when he delivered the annual conference of Karl Taylor Compton of MIT on campus on Monday.
Large -scale speech posed a series of research issues on our human ideals and practices, and has been anchored in the opinion that, as Vinson said, “technological progress must serve humanity, not the other way around.”
During his remarks, Vinson proposed reflections on our self -conception as rational beings; the effects of technological revolutions on human tasks, jobs and society; And the values and ethics that we want our life and our social fabric to reflect.
“Philosophers like Cicero argue that good life focuses on the pursuit of virtue and wisdom,” said Vinson. “Can AI improve our pursuit of virtue and wisdom?” Does this automate the critical aspects of human reflection? A world that is getting more and more withdrawn from AI for decision-making and artistic creation, and even ethical deliberation, does this reflect a more advanced society? Or does it signal a quiet surrender from the human agency? ”
Vinson's speech, entitled “AI at a time after reason: a discourse on fundamental human issues”, was delivered to a large audience of the Samberg Conference Center of MIT.
He also suggested that universities can serve as “intellectual compass” in the development of AI, bringing realism and specificity to the subject and “separating the real risks of speculative fears, ensuring that AI is neither dismantled nor adopted blindly with wisdom, with ethical surveillance and with societal adaptation.”
The series of Compton conferences was introduced in 1957, in honor of Karl Taylor Compton, which was the ninth president of MIT, from 1930 to 1948, and president of MIT Corporation from 1948 to 1954.
In introductory remarks, the president of MIT, Sally A. Kornbluth, observed that Compton “helped the Institute transform from an exceptional technical school for the training of practical engineers in a really large world university. A renowned physicist, President Compton emphasized fundamental scientific research, and he made science an equal partner with MIT engineering. ”
Beyond that, Kornbluth added: “During the war, he helped invent a partnership between the federal government and American research universities.”
Presentation of Vinson, Kornbluth described it as an academic leader who projects a “wonderful feeling of energy, positivity and movement forward”.
Vinson became president of Howard University in September 2025, having previously been provost and executive vice-president of Case Western Reserve University; Dean du Columbian College of Arts and Sciences from George Washington University; And vice-dean of centers, interdisciplinary studies and higher education at Johns Hopkins University. Historian who studied the African diaspora in Latin America, Vinson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and former president of the American Historical Association.
Using history as a guide, Vinson suggested that AI had the potential to considerably influence society and the economy, even if it may not fully provide all the progress it is imagined to bring.
“It serves as a Rorschach test for the deepest hopes and anxieties in society,” said Vinson about AI. “Optimists, they see it as a productivity revolution and a leap into human evolution, while pessimists warn against mass surveillance, bias, moving employment and even existential risk. Reality, as history suggests, is probably somewhere between the two. AI will probably evolve through a cycle of swollen expectations, disillusionment and possible pragmatic inspiration. ”
However, Vinson suggested that there were substantial differences between AI and some of our previous technological jumps – the industrial revolution, the electric revolution and the digital revolution, among others.
“Unlike previous technologies that have extended human work, once again, AI targets cognition, creativity, decision -making and even emotional intelligence,” said Vinson.
In any case, said Vinson, people should be active in discussing the deep effects that technological change can have on society: “AI is not only a question of technological progress, it is a question of being able, justice and the very essence of what human being means.”
On a few occasions, Vinson's remarks have returned to the education and impact of AI. Howard, one of the main black colleges and universities in the country, recently obtained an R1 designation as an university with a very high level of research activity. At the same time, it has prosperous programs in the humanities and social sciences which depend on individual cognition and survey.
But suppose that Vinson pointed out that AI ends up moving part of the humanist scholarship. “Does a world with fewer human sciences really represent human progress?” He asked.
All in all, proposed Vinson, as AI progress, we are responsible for engaging in the advances and the potential of the domain while keeping in mind daily human values.
“Guide the world through this transformer age with more wisdom, with foresight and with unshakable dedication to the common good,” said Vinson. “It's not just a technological moment. It is a moment that calls for a form of intellectual courage and moral imagination. Together, we can shape a future of AI which honors dignity for everyone, and at the same time, advances the ideals of humanity itself. ”
