Murmur: AI can answer, asking the right question is our job

President Droupadi Murmu said on Wednesday that today's complex problems cannot be solved by a single discipline, and that knowledge from different fields needs to be brought together to address them. She called for a multidisciplinary approach in higher education.

The President said issues such as climate change, artificial intelligence (AI), poverty eradication and democracy have become so complicated that answers cannot come from just one field.

Addressing students, President Murmu said that while AI can provide answers, it is our own responsibility to ask it the right questions. She said technology works fast, but it is up to students to think about how it should be used.

President Murmu made these remarks at the 75th convocation of the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, Gujarat. She noted that the university offers such a wide range of subjects that it provides an opportunity to connect different branches of knowledge. According to her, the university teaches across fields ranging from arts to science, technology to medicine, law to social science, fine arts to performing arts, and management to journalism.

The President said the problems facing society today are so interconnected that knowledge of different subjects is now essential to solve them. She said climate change is not just a matter for environmental science, AI is not just a subject for computer science, health is not linked to medical science alone, poverty eradication is not the job of economists alone, and democracy is not just a subject of political science. She said it is now necessary to work in a multidisciplinary way, bringing different subjects together, to solve all these problems.

The President also said students need to broaden their knowledge and thinking instead of limiting themselves to just one subject of study. She said students should have the curiosity of a scientist, the sensitivity of an artist, the perspective of a historian, the understanding of economics and the awareness of sociology.

At the convocation, 229 students were awarded Doctor of Philosophy, or PhD, degrees. In addition, 2,857 students were awarded master's degrees, 8,863 students were awarded bachelor's degrees, and 657 students qualified for postgraduate diplomas.