Cook to MIT: Values first
Says tech can’t help by itself
Apple chief executive Tim Cook implored Massachusetts Institute of Technology grads to make sure the power of technology doesn’t overshadow human decency in his commencement address yesterday.
“If we are ever going to solve some of the hardest problems facing the world today, everything from cancer to climate change to inequality, then technology will help us do it,” Cook said. “But technology alone isn’t the solution, and sometimes it’s even part of the problem.”
While speaking to more than 2,000 MIT graduates and their families, Cook warned that many of the technological advances that are just over the horizon will be only as helpful and beneficial as the people who create them.
“I’m not worried about artificial intelligence giving computers the ability to think like hu m a n s ,” Cook said. “I’m more concerned about people thinking like computers, without values and compassion, without concern for consequences. That is what we need you to help us guard against.”
In an interview with the MIT Technology Review, Cook said Apple is using AI in many of its flagship apps in the iPhone, including recommendations for new music and image recognition in photos. The battery in the iPhone also lasts longer, thanks in part to machine learning that adjusts power consumption based on how the phone is being used.
Cook is the second Silicon Valley CEO to speak at a Cambridge commencement in the past few weeks. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg spoke at Harvard’s ceremony, addressing the school he famously dropped out of to build Facebook. Zuckerberg’s speech was far more political than Cook’s, calling for an increase in immigration, universal health care and proposing a universal basic income, all of which would be paid for by the ultra-wealthy.
Cook has been critical of President Trump, including blasting the decision to leave the Paris climate accord, though he only briefly touched on the president’s Twitter habits, saying MIT students had clearly hacked Trump’s account.
“I can tell college students are behind it,” Cook said, “because most of the tweets happen at 3 a.m.”
Cook went on to critique some aspects of the internet and technology, including the spread of fake news and the adverse effects of social media.
“The internet has enabled so much and empowered so many, but it can also be a place where basic rules are suspended and negativity and pettiness thrive,” Cook said. “Don’t listen to trolls, and for God’s sake don’t become one.”