‘Effort still matters’ in age of AI, Garber tells grads

For better or worse, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence coincided with the Class of 2026’s undergraduate years, Harvard President Alan Garber said in his Baccalaureate address Tuesday. It is now up to graduates, he said, to decide how to live with it. 

“There will always be value in toiling laboriously to reach new levels of understanding,” Garber said. “When you do so, you do more than celebrate the exquisite potential of human beings; you elevate the meaning of your singular existence.” 

In November 2022 — just months after members of the Class of 2026 began at Harvard — the release of ChatGPT launched a new era of scientific discoveries and advances in productivity alongside fresh fears about job losses and the value of human labor. But Garber, who graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude 50 years ago, reminded the seniors and their loved ones assembled in Tercentenary Theatre that this is far from the first time a novel technology brought with it novel anxieties. 

He cited a 1903 opinion piece in the Pittsburgh Gazette in which a writer — “Someone we could now call an influencer,” Garber said — fretted about tethered balloons in Switzerland bringing tourists to the height of the tallest Alps in as little as 10 minutes. Having attained that awesome perspective with little effort, the tourists could gaze down with derision at the alpinists toiling through great difficulty up the snowy mountains. 

“We live today in an age of balloons, gaining perspectives in fractions of seconds rather than tens of minutes, dispensing with the toil of the climb in favor of the ease of flight,” Garber said. “There are, of course, places we can only hope to reach by balloon — landscapes too complex and vast for humans to navigate, no matter how hard humans try. If artificial intelligence — generative, agentic, or otherwise — can accelerate the pace of discovery and innovation, revolutionizing how we undertake research and lifting humanity to great heights, then working from a wicker basket may be not only wise but necessary.” 

Still, he added, it is the task of every human to decide which mountains are still worth climbing. 

“You alone will have to determine what it is that you want to know, which knowledge you are not willing to relinquish for the promise of push-button omniscience,” he said. “Effort still matters.” 

The address, Garber’s third, took place under crimson banners and the dappled shade of Tercentenary Theatre’s oaks and elms. The Baccalaureate Service extends a tradition dating back to Harvard’s first Commencement in 1642, when the graduating class heard from the University president and clergy. Today, the service features an address from the president and comments from faith leaders of many traditions, as well as students’ recitations of holy texts and prayers. This service included readings from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, and Salish traditions. 

Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Ph.D. ’13, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, said it was not the reading of scriptures that made the service holy; rather, it was the assembly of students from so many backgrounds and traditions, from so many places around the world. 

“If you are here today, it is because you are descended from generations, people who have come from all over this globe and who have survived deprivations or immigrations or persecutions or liberations, just so you could sit here this day,” Potts told the graduating class. “You are the answer to their hopes and prayers. You are your ancestors’ dreams come true.” 

Rabbi Jason Rubenstein ’04, echoed Potts’ invocation of those who came before. Rubenstein, the executive director of Harvard Hillel, shared a memory of entering Harvard Yard for the first time 26 years ago. He saw the wonder on his father’s face, that his father’s father, Nathan Rubenstein, couldn’t have guessed what his sacrifices as a Polish immigrant caring for his sons under difficult circumstances would make possible. 

“Each of you has a Nathan Rubenstein, whether you know it or not,” he said. “Perhaps more important yet, each of you will become a Nathan for those who come after you.”

Rev. Monica Sanford, assistant dean for multireligious ministry and lecturer in ministry studies at Harvard Divinity School, reminded students of the Buddha’s teaching: Those who want happiness should work for the happiness of others. 

“In their happiness we find our own, for in their freedom we find our freedom. For those who are happy and free harm none and wish only to help others find happiness and freedom,” she said. 

In closing his speech, Garber urged this year’s graduates to go forth with eyes open, determined enough to make their own way and wise enough to know when to change their path. 

“May the future be as kind to you,” he said, “as all of you are to each other.”