The defining variable in the rapid rise of autonomous artificial intelligence may not be a background in computer engineering, but rather the critical thinking skills obtained by a liberal arts education, according to a panel of industry experts convened as part of the recent University of Puget Sound Business Insights event.
Panelists Professor of Philosophy Ariela Tubert and Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Power Platform Ryan Cunningham ’05 delved into the public anxiety surrounding AI automation during the discussion held at Microsoft's Redmond Campus. They discussed how technologies are evolving from passive chatbots into independent agents capable of executing multi-step workflows and how the modern workforce will increasingly depend on human professionals who excel at creative problem-solving.
“Some of the most successful people are people who understand how to think in the abstract about a hard problem and how to break it down into its component parts,” Cunningham said. “And I think that muscle is not an ‘age’ or ‘length of experience’ muscle necessarily, right? It's a critical thinking muscle fundamentally.”
The discussion also focused on how these new AI tools are allowing organizations to significantly scale operations, effectively doing more with less. To see the complete conversation on human agency, workplace transformation, and the ethics of artificial intelligence, watch the full video.
To learn more about AI at Puget Sound, visit the AI & Human Values page.
