On Thursday, July 6, 2023, a special series of public lectures was held for the new students of the class of 2023. Once again, we invited Professor TOSAKU Yasuhiko from the University of California, San Diego, to give a lecture titled “Surviving in the Era of the Generative AI Revolution – What to Learn and Do During University.”
Specializing in language acquisition theory and foreign language teaching methods, Dr. Tosaku holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego, and continues to teach at the university’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. He is well-known in foreign language education, having held important positions such as the Japanese language representative to the U.S. National Standards Board. Additionally, he has been a member of the external evaluation committee for the Genis Program and the NipCA Project, a large-scale initiative adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for nearly 10 years..
In this lecture, Dr. Tosaku began by introducing his methods of utilizing AI, explaining what AI can do today, and discussing the concrete strengths of AI. He then talked about the impact of AI on society, how to succeed in the age of the AI revolution, what strengths only humans have that AI does not, and how to develop these strengths through university study.
Society and the nature of work are being transformed by the emergence of generative AI. While AI is making many jobs more efficient and sometimes taking away human jobs, it also creates new opportunities. Jobs that require human creativity, empathy, emotion, intuition, deep thinking, negotiation skills, and leadership are unlikely to be lost to AI. Dr. Tosaku emphasized the importance of acquiring the ability to master AI and nurturing human and skills that cannot be replaced by AI. He advocated for universities to utilize AI to develop advanced thinking skills and the ability to identify, analyze, and solve problems.
The lecture was followed by a lively question-and-answer session based on practical experience, including tips on how to write prompts, how to develop empathy, and how to verify facts when Chat GPT fabricates information.
