Forum: Universities’ goal is to produce deep thinkers in the age of AI

I refer to the Opinion piece “AI’s challenge to universities: What happens when EQ trumps IQ?” (Nov 28).

I agree that it is timely to rethink what universities do, and why they do it, in the light of the current onslaught of generative artificial intelligence (AI) that began with OpenAI’s release of its ChatGPT chatbot.

I am someone who graduated from university in an era when students were given cyclostyled notes.

Now that technological developments have given people easy access to information as well as, sadly, misinformation, I think that while the methods of access to information and acquiring knowledge may be different today, the ultimate goal of university education must not change.

Universities must remain institutions of higher learning with, perhaps, an emphasis on deeper learning.

It is even more imperative now that a university should guard its position as a place of higher and deeper learning, where strong academics and deep thinkers cultivate young minds who continue to push the boundaries of knowledge.

So, even as universities fight to remain relevant in this age of generative AI, I hope they do not lose sight of the noble goal of cultivating not only employable graduates, but also deep thinkers.

The current thinking by most, as pointed out in the Opinion piece, is that AI will not replace humans in the area of empathy. I do question, however, if universities should be teaching emotional intelligence. I believe it should be developed and taught during the earlier years of education.

It should be the goal of early education to teach and develop emotional intelligence in students. By the time they enter university – as at least 40 per cent of each cohort is expected to – they can then focus on acquiring higher and deeper education.

Imagine the kind of world we will live in when the empathy of human beings is combined with the power of knowledge through harnessing generative AI and other emerging technologies.

Can we dare to dream of a world in which there will be no hunger, where many diseases will be eradicated and the devastation of climate change will be reversed? 

Where do universities see themselves in striving towards such a world?

Lee Soo Chye