And I thought to myself, maybe this school is not for me
I recently came across a clip of Harrison Ford's commencement speech at ASU and it made me reflect on how our own commencement speech reflects the state of our school and its values.
When I see such a passionate, sincere speech coming from a place of both genuine hope and urgency for the future of our country and planet, compared to the dull, played out cash grab that was Jensen Huang's speech, I feel like I'm being talked down to, not only by him but by Farnam and CMU as an institution.
Is Huang really just here to sell us AI? Does the administration want us to pursue the technology he has a vested interest in peddling with no real end in sight as to what we want to achieve?
As a STEM student, I always envisioned myself and my peers as aspiring to the Carl Sagans, the Alan Turings of the world. Maybe it's just naiveté, but seeing how other schools champion a vision motivated by humanitarianism and progress while our school seems to be jumping onto the AI hype train for companies that steal data, facilitate the state surveillance apparatus both at home and overseas, and drone strike civilians leaves an incredibly poor taste in my mouth.
I'm no AI doomer, but I do think technology should facilitate the betterment of humanity, and when working at a place like Palantir or NVIDIA becomes the stated goal of students and administration, something echoed in Huang's speech, it undermines that ultimate goal. When I saw that clip of Ford, I couldn't help but be saddened by what the culture at our school has become. In that moment, I thought to myself, maybe this place isn't for me.