Sungkyunkwan to tackle ethical issues of AI
Sungkyunkwan University President Chung Kyu-sang
University president pledges to globalize Korean Confucianism
By Kim Jae-kyoung
SINGAPORE — Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) President Chung Kyu-sang said that his university will globalize Korean Confucianism by bringing in a world-renowned scholar from abroad and modernizing its curriculum of Confucian studies.
The move is a preliminary step for the school to take the lead in a global discussion of ethical issues raised by the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and to play a key role in preparing for the age of AI.
The school was formerly known as Sungkyunkwan, and was the highest national education institute in the Joseon Kingdom founded under the principle of Confucianism in 1398.
In a recent interview with The Korea Times in Singapore, Chung said that the university has decided to hire a world-renowned scholar of Eastern philosophy from abroad to head the Academy of East Asian Studies.
The academy was an organization founded by the university to promote Korea’s culture and philosophy, and modern issues in East Asia.
“He is a scholar whom everybody would recognize by name. The scholar basically agreed to work with us and we are now working on details of the terms of the contract. We will soon make an announcement,” he said.
“Since this is a big step to take the initiative in promoting eastern values as a solution to issues brought up by AlphaGo, it is important to have a distinguished scholar with a deep knowledge of Confucianism and a reputation in Western society as well,” he said.
AlphaGo is an AI program designed by London-based Google subsidiary DeepMind to play the board game Go.
The president said that professors from the Department of Confucian and Oriental Studies are already working on how to globalize its studies and developing a new program to reflect changes in the technology world.
“A new program will focus on modernizing and globalizing Confucianism in a bid to resolve various ethical issues critical for the future development of AI,” he said.
“AlphaGo’s victory over world Go champion Lee Se-dol has led to fear that machines with superior intelligence might control humans in the near future. What is of concern is that such machines can be abused by humans for malicious purpose,” Chung said.
Amid such concerns of a technological elite in the shadows ruling over the rest of the humanity, the world has started talking about the ethics of AI use.
“The issue is how human can use and control AI. In other words, it is about the nature of human beings or ethics, which is the core of our Confucian studies,” he added.
“In order to forestall the side effects of AI, education on humanism should precede laws and systems. In that regard, Korea and Sunkyunkwan University are in the best position to handle that issue,” he added.
Capitalizing on alumni network
The former law professor, who visited Singapore to join the 2016 Asia Alumni Association General Meeting, said that the school will make more efforts to expand its presence in Southeast Asia
The first thing he plans to do is to create a program for its students to have opportunities to get more internships and find jobs in the region in cooperation with the Asia Alumni Association.
“The school will try to send as many students as possible to the region. I hope that the alumni association will share its network to help our students get more opportunities there,” Chung said.
“Our students are still lacking in knowledge of the opportunities presented by Southeast Asia. We will use Singapore as a bridgehead to encourage more students to go there,” he added.
The school also plans to expand alliances with top universities in Southeast Asia to introduce more credit exchange programs and hold joint forums. It has already forged alliances with top universities such as Singapore National and Nanyang Technology universities.
“Joint studies among professors are underway but our students are looking for opportunities only in industrialized countries, such as the U.S. and Canada. It is now time to change their mindset with forward-looking vision,” he said.
At the same time, the 63-year-old said that the school will capitalize on Samsung Group’s expansion into Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia. Samsung, the nation’s largest conglomerate, took over the school’s operating foundation in 1996.
“Samsung is expanding its business in the region by ramping up facilities investment. We plan to introduce more industry-academic collaboration projects,” he said.
In order to produce a Korean version of Steve Jobs, Chung said that the university will beef up software education for its students. It now makes it a rule for those majoring in humanities to take at least four credits in basic software courses.
“Steve Jobs was a leading figure of innovation equipped with both an insight into the humanities and an understanding of science and technology,” he said.
“To create such a talent, we have established a system ensuring that every student has the capability to apply software knowledge to his or her own major,” he added.
Chung said that all these moves are in line with the school’s long-term vision to become a leading global university.
“We don’t pay much attention to domestic rankings. What we care is how competitive we are on a global scale. If we continue to sharpen up our competitive edge to become Asia’s leading university, we will soon top the league table of universities in Korea,”he said.
It aims to become one of Asia’s top 10 universities and in the world’s top 50 by 2020. It was 16th in Asia in the Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking 2015, the highest ranking among Korea’s private universities.