Graduates at MIT, a pioneer in fields like computers and robots, were urged to infuse its development with their own values and warnings about technology's dehumanizing aspects were given by Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday while speaking to the student in the institution.
"I’m not worried about artificial intelligence giving computers the ability to think like humans," Cook said in his commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I'm more concerned about people thinking like computers, without values or compassion, without concern for consequence."
Cook praised the benefits of new devices and social media while speaking to thousands of students and their families at MIT's Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus. But he also said that technology must be tempered with human knowledge and worded caution that the same technologies can divide people through threats to privacy or security.
"Technology is capable of doing great things, but it doesn't want to do great things. It doesn't want anything," the Apple Inc chief executive said. "That part takes all of us."
Cook’s speech added some context around some of his past decisions, such as taking controversial stances to protect privacy rights and investing heavily in green technologies but it did not break new ground for him as head of the world's most valuable technology company.
Telling students it is obvious they have taken over Trump’s Twitter account, Cook offered only a gentle joke at the president's expense on Friday, even though he has criticized President Donald Trump’s policies on many occasions.
“I can tell college students are behind it because most of the tweets happen at 3 a.m.,” Cook said.
In 2005, Cook’s predecessor, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, outlined his free-thinking background and told graduates to find work they loved, in a m much more lengthier graduation speech at MIT rival Stanford University, compared to the 15-minute talk that Cook delivered at MIT which also stood in stark contrast Jobs;’ delivery.
Cook became CEO in 2011 after stints at IBM and Compaq and therefore he is believed and considered to have taken a more conventional career path to the top of Apple.
Except to outline what he described as a frustrating search for meaning until joining Apple, few details about his own life on Friday was given by Cook who is openly gay but famously circumspect.
Pope Francis, who Cook said reinforced his own sense that technology must be harnessed with strong values, was the one to whom Cook had gone to seek guidance in religion and last year at one point, he said.
He said Francis told him, “Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
"I’m not worried about artificial intelligence giving computers the ability to think like humans," Cook said in his commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I'm more concerned about people thinking like computers, without values or compassion, without concern for consequence."
Cook praised the benefits of new devices and social media while speaking to thousands of students and their families at MIT's Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus. But he also said that technology must be tempered with human knowledge and worded caution that the same technologies can divide people through threats to privacy or security.
"Technology is capable of doing great things, but it doesn't want to do great things. It doesn't want anything," the Apple Inc chief executive said. "That part takes all of us."
Cook’s speech added some context around some of his past decisions, such as taking controversial stances to protect privacy rights and investing heavily in green technologies but it did not break new ground for him as head of the world's most valuable technology company.
Telling students it is obvious they have taken over Trump’s Twitter account, Cook offered only a gentle joke at the president's expense on Friday, even though he has criticized President Donald Trump’s policies on many occasions.
“I can tell college students are behind it because most of the tweets happen at 3 a.m.,” Cook said.
In 2005, Cook’s predecessor, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, outlined his free-thinking background and told graduates to find work they loved, in a m much more lengthier graduation speech at MIT rival Stanford University, compared to the 15-minute talk that Cook delivered at MIT which also stood in stark contrast Jobs;’ delivery.
Cook became CEO in 2011 after stints at IBM and Compaq and therefore he is believed and considered to have taken a more conventional career path to the top of Apple.
Except to outline what he described as a frustrating search for meaning until joining Apple, few details about his own life on Friday was given by Cook who is openly gay but famously circumspect.
Pope Francis, who Cook said reinforced his own sense that technology must be harnessed with strong values, was the one to whom Cook had gone to seek guidance in religion and last year at one point, he said.
He said Francis told him, “Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
