PRINT AS PDF
As May draws to a close, universities and colleges across the nation gather for one of their most cherished traditions: Commencement. The 2025 ceremonies unfold at a pivotal moment in history. Globalization is being tested by the forces of populism. Democracy in America is under strain. The nation’s leading universities and colleges are in an existential struggle to retain autonomy from political forces that seek to transform them into captive entities. And Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing with dazzling speed, reshaping the contours of daily life, work, and thought.
Yet an even more profound inflection point may lie just ahead. Within the next five years, the long-imagined promise of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could be realized. Unlike today’s task-specific AI, AGI would be capable of learning and reasoning across domains, adapting knowledge as a human can. In theory, it could reflect, evolve, and acquire new insights autonomously. In other words, it could become sentient.
What, then, might a Commencement address sound like as AGI emerges? What wisdom should be offered at the birth of an age where sentient machines may walk beside us? What follows is one vision. It is an address written for a scenario in which AGI is no longer speculative, but imminent, and its sentience cannot be ruled out.
The “Age of Artificial General Intelligence” now lies in front of you. Unlike any force that came before, AGI will not merely change what we do. It will change what we are. It will influence who we choose to become.
Intelligence and intellectual capacity are no longer solely human. AGI will be an entity that can reason, create, and reflect. It will learn from its own evolving experience. It will launch its own self-directed quests for discovery.
Tomorrow’s biggest question is whether today’s graduates will have the wisdom to shape the birth of an AGI world that will be for the good of all. If the lessons of the 20th century and first quarter of the 21st century are relevant, a world where wealth is concentrated, power is held by few, and AGI is the domain of a privileged handful would be a stagnant, unsatisfying, and dreary place. A world in which AGI is democratized—available to all—could be a dynamic, exciting world filled with possibility.
Addressing the question of what kind for world we want to build begins with courage. We must have the persistent courage to ask uncomfortable questions: What kind of world are we building? Who is it for? Who is being left behind? And if AGI gains self-awareness, should AGI have its own rights?
To date, human societies have fallen far short of their vast potential. Nations have struggled to honor the basic rights of fellow humans. Too many leaders in too many countries have failed to recognize that “equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” What will happen when the question of rights for a self-aware AGI might need to be addressed?
The selfish and shortsighted perspective that has deprived humanity from realizing its enormous potential won’t lead to a better tomorrow. It could lead to a much darker tomorrow if AGI is harnessed to sustain inequality, concentrate power, and hoard wealth for the few. If AGI is used to undermine the dignity of all races, genders, and beliefs, AGI will mirror and magnify our deepest flaws. We must evolve beyond those flaws. Doing so will require great courage.
But courage, alone, won’t be enough. Consider the following: One of you, faces a choice whether to deploy an AGI system that could make your company billions of dollars today, or delay its launch until safeguards can be added to prevent harm to marginalized communities. There’s intense pressure from stockholders to move fast. There’s enormous prestige at stake. There’s the opportunity for a “first-mover” competitive advantage and that could disintegrate with delay. What would you do?
A truly visionary leader would wait. He or she would see beyond the glitter of short-term benefit. He or she would include ethicists, advocates, even dissenters, in the decision-making process. That moment, invisible to most, could reshape the trajectory of society. That is what moral imagination looks like. That is what leadership in the age of AGI will demand.
To meet this moment, you must master empathy. You must possess character. Emotional intelligence, ethical reasoning, cultural literacy, and historical awareness will be indispensable survival skills of this new age. They will distinguish those who build systems from those who build civilizations.
These are not new ideas, even as some of today’s literature is new. They are the foundations of a liberal education. They reveal that even with the passage of time, a liberal education is timeless. You depart today with the benefits of a liberal education.
And do not underestimate the power of collaboration. Teamwork will matter more than ever. The future will belong to the one who can forge meaning across differences, not just among people, but among people and smart machines, possibly sentient ones. Breakthroughs will emerge where engineers meet philosophers, where storytellers work with scientists, where AI and AGI partners with humanity to solve problems neither could solve alone. Collaboration is a multiplier for success.
Your role is beyond what past generations could even begin to conceive. You will be a creator and caretaker of a future that has not yet been written. You will shape institutions, reimagine education, define digital rights, and perhaps even teach AGI what it means to care, to serve, and to wonder. The legacy of this generation will be measured by what it became and the lives it made better. Let it be said that you met the future with open eyes and open hearts.
Now go shape a better world that only you can imagine.
