Lab Lunch: 3rd November 2026 - Kousha Etessami

Title: "Living with AI: a difficult balancing act for the future of humanity."

Abstract: We are all having conversations about AI every day, so forgive me for adding to this, but I would like to use this Lab Lunch to start a more
systematic conversation within LFCS regarding two fundamental and yet practical questions concerning all of us (faculty, students, post-docs,
and humans in general), for which I do not have adequate answers. Ideally, I would like us to learn from each other and to share "best
practices" and practical guidelines with each other, toward answering these questions:

1) How do we, as individuals and collectively, balance the
  tradeoff between using AIs to enhance our perceived productivity,
  versus cultivating our own mind, skills, and intellect?

2) How do we build and retain trust in the sincerity, authenticity,
  and originality, of our own work, writings, and output, in the
  presence of AIs?

I will frame this conversation using two thoughtful short essays, each of which I found compelling in its own way, but which advocate radically
different recipes for how to behave in this new world where we are all living with AIs.