Harvard College Dean David J. Deming told members of the Class of 2030 that they were entering a “third era” of higher education in remarks at an abbreviated Convocation ceremony Tuesday afternoon — arguing that artificial intelligence would fundamentally change the role universities play in American society.
In his remarks, Deming divided the history of higher education into two eras. In the 1600s, he said, Harvard stood out because of the number of books it had accumulated — notable in an era where access to information was limited to a select few.
But as knowledge became more widely accessible and society increasingly specialized, Deming argued that universities have become places where expertise, rather than general knowledge, was cultivated — sometimes at the cost of a unified community. ...
The rise of AI, he argued, is prompting another shift in the role of higher education, as technology makes expertise increasingly accessible and places greater value on collaborative and communal learning. ...
“I believe that in this new, third era of undergraduate education, we should lean into our strengths and become radically more communal, enabling other forms of learning in which technology is of little or no use,” he said.
Deming has previously argued on his personal podcast that social skills, including collaboration and effective communication, will become increasingly valuable in the workplace as AI is more widely adopted. ...
See the full story here: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/9/2/deming-convocation-address/