Why? Because as top engineering graduates from a top school, during the Age of AI, you are the ones with the power. But please remember what the world’s greatest philosopher, Spiderman, said: "with great power comes great responsibility."

　　In the Age of AI, autonomous and semi-autonomous algorithms will invest money, take care of children, drive cars, and conduct surgery. You will be the ones who build these products, which will impact people’s possessions, health, and even lives.

　　As engineers, we cannot abandon our conscience and sense of responsibility. We need to be thorough, diligent, and ethical, not just in the architecture and coding, but also in the design, in the testing, in running the machine learning training, and in downloading the updated parameters.

　　The first airbags saved many lives, but they also accidentally killed some children, due to the lack of adequate design and instructions that adequately considered children’s smaller size.

　　So your first responsibilities are to your users, to making your product safe, thoughtful, and usable. And more than “product safety.” You also have a responsibility to foresee and prevent the potential risks of technology to users from getting out of hand. So please speak up strongly against “autonomous weapons” or “bartering or sales of privacy data.”

　　Your second responsibility is to yourself. In the Age of AI, you are not just competing with other people, but also with AI. You have a responsibility to work on the hard problems, and avoid wasting your time doing what machines will be able to do. Don’t waste your talent repeating what you learned at school. Don’t accept a job that doesn’t challenge you. Take risks and learn vigorously and rigorously so that you can become the best in something specific and useful, whatever your field. Be creative and inventive. AI is great at optimizing, but AI cannot invent something new.

　　Your final responsibility is to make the world a better place with your choices as an engineer. Choose jobs that save lives, not destroy them. Choose jobs that empower people, not demoralize them. Work for organizations with more compassion than greed, and for people who care more about world peace than world domination.

　　And my last advice: Be in touch with your heart.

　　After all that serious tech talk, what I am going to talk about next may seem a little bit out-of place. But it comes from my heart.

　　Four years ago, I was diagnosed with 4th stage lymphoma. I faced the real possibility that my remaining time here was measured in months.

　　During that time of ultimate uncertainty, I thought a lot about my life. I came to realize that my accomplishments, and even the arrival of AI after waiting 30 years meant nothing to me.

　　I came to realize that by chasing these technologies, products, investments, and my career, my priorities were out-of-order. I neglected my family. My father had passed away. My mother barely remembered me. My kids had grown up.

　　One of the books I read during my illness was Bronnie Ware’s book about the regrets of people on their deathbeds. She found that no one wished they’d worked harder or spent more time at the office or accumulated more possessions. People’s top wish was that they had spent more time, sharing their love of their loved ones.

　　Fortunately, I am now in remission so I am here with you today. I am spending much more time with my family. I moved closer to my mother. I travel with my wife, whether on business or for pleasure. When my kids come home, I would take not two or three days off from work, but two or three weeks.

　　I also spent more time meaningfully connecting with more people. I spent weekends traveling with my best friends. I took my company on a one-week vacation to Silicon Valley -- their Mecca. I met with young people who sent me questions on Facebook. I reached out to people I offended years ago and asked for their forgiveness and friendship. I wrote a book and shot a documentary to share what I had learned from my near-death experience.

　　My near-death experience not only changed my life and my values, it gave me an enlightened view about what AI should mean for humanity. Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have given us their view, a view where machines supersede humans completely, and we are to control them or become them.

　　With my near-death experience, I would like to offer an alternate ending to their prediction of the AI future. Surely AI has, or will beat us on many analytical tasks with definitive decisions and outcomes. But these tasks are not what make us human. What makes us human is that we are able to love.

　　The moment when we see our new-born babies; the feeling of love-at-first-sight; the warm feeling from friends who listen to us empathetically; the feeling of self-actualization when we help someone in need. Or if you want empirical proof, the fact that the placebo effect works. These all demonstrate that we are far from understanding the human “heart”, let alone replicating it. But we do know that humans uniquely are able to love and be loved. Humans want to love and be loved. That loving and being loved are what makes our lives worthwhile.

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