Navigating a World With AI: An Evening with the Chancellor Part 2

They say history repeats itself.

At Mandelbaum House this year, it arrived in the form of a familiar face. For the second time, residents had the pleasure of welcoming the Chancellor of the University of Sydney, David Thodey AO FTSE, as the guest speaker for the evening. The scene was familiar, but this year the conversation took us somewhere different: artificial intelligence.

The evening began with an Acknowledgement of Country led by residents Logan and Gianna, paying respects to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, whose land Mandelbaum stands on. As residents settled in for dinner, the room filled up with the familiar sounds of conversation, laughter and clinking cutlery. Residents caught up with one another and exchanged stories about their winter break escapades, marking a great start to the new semester.

In his speech, the Chancellor spoke about the extraordinary trajectory of technology and the rapid adoption of AI, which is changing the way we access knowledge today. He traced this progression from the advent of computers and laptops to the internet and the interconnected world we live in today. He highlighted the example of nurses and other healthcare professionals using smartphones to assist with retinal diagnoses, demonstrating how AI has applications across sectors like healthcare. The Chancellor reflected on how previous technological advances have led to significant changes in employment, using agriculture as an example of an industry that shrank as technology reduced the need for human labour. Yet these changes also created entirely new professions and opportunities.

So, with all of this, the question remains. In a world changing so rapidly, how do we prepare for what comes next?

The answer, perhaps, supplied the Chancellor, is not to predict the future perfectly, but to remain capable of adapting to it. Universities are changing the way they teach, assessments are evolving, professions are transforming, and new careers are emerging with the rise of AI. The history of progress, dating back to the Industrial Revolution, suggests that change is inevitable.

But throughout that change, some things remain stubbornly human.

Judgement. Empathy. Creativity. Critical thinking.

After an evening spent contemplating algorithms, neural-symbolic AI and the changing landscape of our education, there was only one thing left to address: dessert. The Chancellor made his way around the tables, engaging in conversation with the residents, patiently answering our questions and offering valuable advice. Because in a world where machines can do more and more, it may be more important than ever for us to remember what makes us human. And as the conversation lingered around the dinner table long after the formalities had ended, there was something reassuringly human about that.

They say history repeats itself. But perhaps it is better to say it rhymes.

Article by: Simran Vaswani

Photography: www.nadinesaacks.com