CONFERENCE 'Education in AI era should focus on cultivating humanity'
Summary
Choi Jae-boong said education in the AI era should focus on cultivating humanity and urged universities to redesign curricula instead of simply restricting AI use. He made the remarks at the 2026 Korea Times Global Conference in Seoul on Tuesday. Choi said AI innovation is inevitable and leadership and education must shift accordingly. He also stressed creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration as key values.
Key Facts
- The keynote was delivered at the 2026 Korea Times Global Conference at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul on Tuesday.
- The conference theme was Beyond AI: building human-centered leadership for the next era.
- Choi said universities spent last year and this year focusing on preventing students from using AI for assignments.
- He said the values of the four Cs are increasingly important: creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration.
- Choi is the author of Phono Sapiens and AI Sapiens, which examine how new technologies reshape society and industry.
Sungkyunkwan University professor urges universities to rethink curricula instead of restricting students' use of AI
Choi Jae-boong, professor of mechanical engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, delivers his keynote speech during the 2026 Korea Times Global Conference at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Choi Jae-boong, professor of mechanical engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, said education in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) should focus on cultivating humanity, while universities should move away from simply trying to restrict students’ use of AI and instead rethink how their curricula are designed.
Choi shared such visions during his keynote speech at the 2026 Korea Times Global Conference at Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul, Tuesday. Under the theme of “Beyond AI: building human-centered leadership for the next era,” he stressed that AI innovation is an inevitable future and that both leadership and education must undergo a fundamental shift to prepare for it.
“Many Big Tech companies carried out layoffs over the past several years, but when I looked at their headcounts again earlier this year, they had increased because the companies were hiring more AI talent,” Choi said.
“However, the focus of Korean universities last year and even this year was how to prevent students from using AI to do their assignments. Almost no one was talking about how education itself should respond to the AI revolution. … This kind of regulatory approach only makes the side effects more pronounced.”
Choi likened such an approach to an “isolationist policy” that resists reform and tries to keep technologies outside society out of fear of the disruption they may bring. But he stressed that the AI revolution is already unstoppable, as people are increasingly realizing that AI could become a tool that makes a difference in their survival.
“The capital pouring into the AI industry today may be a bubble, and that bubble could burst someday,” he said. “But that flow of capital is drawing more talent into the AI industry, and that is why this revolution will not stop. Humanity has taken out what it considers one of its most precious assets — money — and bet it on the future of AI.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, second from left, raises a toast during his meeting with Korean tech company leaders at a barbecue restaurant in Mapo District, Seoul, June 5. From left are SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Huang, Naver Board Chairman Lee Hae-jin and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo. Korea Times photo by Park Si-mon
He said such an era requires a different form of leadership and a new vision for the kind of talent needed in this era.
“As we enter the age of AI agents, even the era when asking the right questions (to get the desired results from AI) has come to an end,” Choi said. “We need to find a new direction, and that means developing the values of the four Cs — creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration are increasingly important.”
Along with those values, Choi stressed that cultivating humanity will become even more important in the AI era. As agentic AI increasingly levels the playing field in terms of practical capabilities, he said the question will ultimately become what kind of person others want to work with.
Choi Jae-boong, professor of mechanical engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, delivers his keynote speech during the 2026 Korea Times Global Conference at Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
“When Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appeared on a Korean TV show, he said the people who contributed most to the company’s growth were those who helped other people’s projects with pleasure,” Choi said. “Whether you have a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or are an expert in vibe coding, if practical capabilities become increasingly similar, what kind of person would you choose to work with?”
The same question applies to the expansion of AI. Whether the most advanced AI should be developed to benefit people or used as a tool to relentlessly pursue power ultimately comes down to human values, he said.
“Universities need to debate how they can present a vision for this new era,” Choi said. “They should create courses that explore how AI will transform each field and stay ahead of those changes. Through such efforts, universities need to nurture the kind of people the market will demand.”
“Ultimately, I think the most important thing is for universities themselves to become institutions that value kindness, empathy and consideration for others.”
Choi rose to popularity with his 2019 book “Phono Sapiens,” which put forward the notion in Korea that smartphones had become indispensable to modern life.
As a tech futurist, who studies how new technologies will reshape our society, he expanded the concept to AI in his 2024 book “AI Sapiens,” which explores how humans using AI could reshape industrial structures and usher in a new civilization.
Explore More
- Q.
- Q.
- Q.