Students Debate Whether Humanity Should Continue Its Pursuit of AGI
While many educators debate exactly how much of a student’s paper should be written with AI, the challenges our students face as we move into human-level intelligence are much more daunting.
These challenges will not simply appear if/when society achieves AGI, but will emerge in the pursuit of AGI as emerging capabilities create new challenges.
The many challenges our students face include —
How should they develop unique intellectual value in a world where AI can perform most cognitive tasks? What is the value to anything they create if it can be easily replicated with AI?
How do we redefine intelligence in an age when AI may outperform humans on most measurable scales?
What educational paths should they pursue when traditional career trajectories are rapidly evolving or disappearing? Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’
How should they establish authentic human connections when social interactions are increasingly mediated by AI?
How will they develop identity and purpose in a world where human-AI boundaries become increasingly blurred?
What cognitive adaptations will they need to develop to effectively collaborate with, rather than compete against, AGI systems?
How will they learn to share physical spaces with robots in educational, work, and public environments?
How will they address the ethical questions of robot rights and responsibilities as robots become more sophisticated?
What privacy concerns will they face when robots are constantly present and potentially recording in their environments?
How will they understand embodiment and physicality as they routinely interact with robot bodies?
What new forms of communication will they need to develop to effectively instruct and work alongside robotic systems?
What role will they play in designing robots that reflect diverse human values and cultural sensitivities?
How will they navigate the ethical implications of designing living organisms with novel functions?
What responsibilities come with the power to edit, create, and redesign biological systems?
How will they reconcile traditional understandings of nature with increasingly engineered biological systems?
How will their relationship with their own biology change as human enhancement becomes more accessible?
How will they survive as the social safety net declines while AI automates away many jobs?
How might communities maintain social cohesion when economic opportunities become increasingly stratified between those who can work with AI and those who cannot?
How can they ensure that their communities are represented in the digital future?
What does democratic participation look like when political decisions are informed—or even made—by AI systems?
What new mental health challenges might emerge as humans navigate increasingly complex relationships with sophisticated AI systems?
In a world where AI can simulate love, art, wisdom, and companionship, what remains uniquely human?
Who gets to say “no” to AI—and will students be allowed to unplug or opt out?
What new forms of creativity and expression might emerge when humans collaborate with AI rather than compete against it?
What tools and literacies do they need to become not just users, but authors of the AI world?
How will today's youth rewrite the social contract?
On Sunday, April 6th, four of the nation’s top high school debaters from two of the top debate programs will join us to debate the question of whether humanity should continue its pursuit of human-level AI (AGI).
You will be at GSV, please join us. If you will not, please consider exploring these topics with your students.
