I’d like to welcome the distinguished members of our audience:
Federal Councilor,
National Councilor,
Former Federal Councilor,
Former State Secretaries for Education, Research and Innovation,
Chairman and other current and former members of the ETH Board,
Former chairmen of the ETH Board,
President of the Swiss Science Council,
President of the Swiss National Science Foundation,
State Councilor,
Mayors and other city officials,
President of the Chamber of Swiss Universities and Rector of the University of Basel,
Chairman of the Board of Università della Svizzera Italiana,
President of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
Rectors and representatives of other Swiss universities and the HES schools,
Secretary General of Swissuniversities,
EPFL President Emeritus,
President of the EPFL+ Foundation,
EPFL President-Designate – dear Anna, congratulations on your appointment!
Friends of EPFL,
And our new graduates,Along with their parents and other family members.
Congratulations!
My address today will be given in four acts:
- First, we’ll celebrate your achievement
- Next, I’ll describe the duties and role of an institute of technology
- Then, I’ll look ahead to the future, especially with regard to artificial intelligence
- And finally, I’ll discuss the challenges that lie ahead.
1. Let’s celebrate your achievement and the people who helped you, and remember what made it possible
I’ll begin with a humorous anecdote.
On 10 June, Timothé Mumenthaler, an EPFL bachelor’s student in microengineering, won the 200-meter race at the European Championships in Rome. After the race, a journalist asked him what his next goal was, and he replied: “To pass my exams at EPFL!”
Those of you in the audience today may not all be European 200-meter champions, but you’re EPFL champions now that you’ve graduated – so well done!
All of us– parents, professors and staff members – are proud of you for obtaining your degree and for the role you’ll play as EPFL graduates. I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to your achievement, starting with your parents, other family members and friends.
Regarding your degree, I’d like to cite Machiavelli: “It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.” Remember that as you go through your careers.
Here in Switzerland, society as a whole invests in giving everyone a high-quality education – an investment in the future of our country. This European approach has proven its worth, and is distinct from the US system where students must go into debt to pay for their schooling.
We, on the other hand, believe that students should be a source of talent, not income.
Message #1. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
This leads to my first message, a popular American idiom: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. ”
You’re living proof that Switzerland’s public-education system – one based on providing affordable, high-quality instruction – works. We hope that you, as graduates, will help us both maintain and improve it.
2. The duties and role of an institute of technology
In this second act, I’ll describe the duties and role of an institute of technology.
Actually, I should add “Swiss” and “federal” to that, to underscore our synergies with Swiss universities and the HES schools. Synergies that are firmly anchored in the Lausanne region.
Switzerland’s institutes of technology have been spearheading our country’s progress since the industrial revolution in the mid-19th century, following the opening of the “Poly” in Zurich and the École Spéciale de Lausanne – our forebear – in the 1850s.
And the industrial revolution is still going, if you consider the increasingly dominant role that technology is playing in society, for better or worse. As graduates, you’ll be instrumental in making sure it’s for the better.
Switzerland’s institutes of technology have a duty to respond to societal challenges, conduct research to expand our knowledge, share that knowledge through teaching, apply it through technology transfer, and give it back to society, which will determine how science and technology will be governed.
Doing all this will require a solid foundation in science, which – as you know – is a harsh mistress.
Remember that the scientific method aims only to reduce uncertainty. Dogmatic truth is a mirage, and fake news is a poison for society.
The knowledge we produce is a common good of humanity and should be available to everyone. We hope that future generations will use it wisely.
Technology is a double-edged sword. It can be used for good or evil, to build or to tear apart, to heal or to kill. As examples, just look at dual-use technology, today’s emerging monopolies, and the rise in inequality that’s resulting from uneven access to modern technology.
As scientists and engineers, we have a responsibility to stay vigilant. Progress is blind, as they say, and needs to be guided.
Switzerland’s institutes of technology must also work to anchor our country’s position as a leader in science and engineering. This leadership position is already reflected in the rankings we love to hate.
But beyond the rankings, our institutes of technology help citizens, business leaders and policymakers navigate today’s landscape while avoiding the political and economic hazards associated with technological revolutions. We cannot just be consumers of technology; we must also help shape it so that it embodies our society’s values.
To that end I would point to several of our strategic initiatives, in the areas of the clean-energy transition, personalized medicine, cybersecurity, digital trust, data science and artificial intelligence. We’re carrying out all these initiatives in association with our sister school in Zurich.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank ETH Zurich’s president, Joël Mesot, for this valuable collaboration.
Message #2. “Yes we deliver!”
My second message is simple: institutes of technology are a growth engine for our country.
It’s true that they require a substantial investment, but believe me, it’s an investment that pays off.
– First, through the talented graduates they produce: those of you right here in this room, and we’re proud of you!
– Second, through their science and engineering leadership in key fields.
– Third, through the innovations they generate, which drive our economy.
“Yes, we can, and we deliver!”
3. Where are we headed? (LLMs, AI and social values)
This is my eighth and last Magistrale address, so I’d like to talk about the future. Artificial intelligence, or AI, will be a part of that future.
We could ask this question to one of the many chatbots out there, powered by large language models, or LLMs, with mind-boggling capabilities.
Their answer would certainly mention the inevitability of climate change and possibly even the end of civilization, predicting that AI will replace human beings and determine the future of humanity.
AI is based on huge datasets that tech giants have collected or stolen on the internet. The irony is that as members of today’s ultra-connected yet poorly regulated society, we hand our data over to these companies so that they can sell them back to us. There’s something wrong here.
Instead of AI, I prefer the Socratic method of debate between human beings, as well as the Cartesian method of seeking, testing and understanding the truth.
But we shouldn’t be misled: AI, like many inventions that came before it – writing, numbers, printing, the scientific method, electricity, computers and computational science – will transform how we work, conduct research, innovate and live together in society.
AI clearly holds huge potential for research and innovation. And probably for society too. But without an adequate governance system, it’ll become our Achille’s heel.
AI should remain nothing more than a tool used by humans.
Humanity is much more than a collection of data leading to blind correlations. Society needs to decide which values it wants to uphold – and my guess is these values won’t include creating shareholder value for large companies with monopolistic aims.
Message #3. Use AI for the common good
This leads to my third message for you, dear graduates. As scientists and engineers, you’re aware of both the opportunities and threats of AI. Remember that progress is blind and technology is one-eyed: it seizes opportunities but overlooks the risks.
Stay vigilant and contribute to the debate, so that society doesn’t fall victim to AI driven by a profit motive. Society must leverage the potential of AI to improve the common good.
4. The challenges we face
In this final act, I’d like to discuss the challenges we’re facing here and now.
The past few years haven’t been easy ones, and I won’t gloss over the tensions we’ve experienced on our campuses in connection with geopolitical events, especially in the Middle East: Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Lebanon.
First, I’d like to commend students for their engagement in societal issues, because we don’t want to produce what German-speakers would call fachidioten.
Student activism around the world has started an important conversation about universities’ role in the political space, including whether they should remain neutral. If a university takes a firm stance, it stifles debate. But I understand this is a fine line to walk.
Universities should be places dominated by the power of ideas rather than the idea of power. And they must be able to function so that ideas can, in fact, be debated.
I’ve taken part in discussions, negotiations and town hall meetings on this subject, and on several occasions I’ve thought to myself: my freedom of expression ends where that of the next person begins. Establishing this boundary is essential if we are to foster an open, civilized and respectful dialogue.
This brings to mind Socrates’ triple-filter test, where we should ask ourselves three questions about something before we say it:
- Is it true?
- Is it useful?
- Is it good?
It’s especially important to maintain a respectful, balanced dialogue when it comes to divisive issues – of which there are plenty today.
Remember the pioneering students who came before you at EPFL and introduced the Archimedean Oath over 30 years ago.
This is an oath of ethical behavior for engineers that’s especially relevant today as we discuss the values we want to embrace at EPFL. I applaud the students who are continuing this tradition.
Alongside these philosophical debates, we’ve also held more down-to-earth, quantitative conversations on topics such as a cap on the size of our student body, the specter of a numerus clausus at EPFL, tuition fees, our research partnerships with the EU, and the budgets for ETH schools.
But I don’t want to delve into these topics today. This is your day – a day of celebration!
Message #4. Stay vigilant: the future is in your hands
My last message is one for Switzerland. In the past, the country wisely invested in education, research and innovation.
A country that doesn’t invest in its youth doesn’t invest in its future. And a country that doesn’t invest in its future will decline.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
6. Final thoughts
It’s time to draw my remarks to a close. You’ve worked hard to get where you are today, but you’ve also been fortunate. Share this good fortune with others. Be magnanimous – the world desperately needs generosity.
I’m calling on you to make this world a better place. If everyone did that, society would be better off – it’s a very simple algorithm.
But life is not an algorithm or dataset. Life also comprises the many colleagues and friends you’ve made during your time at EPFL.
Remember what Nelson Mandela said: “I never lose. Either I win, or I learn.”
6. Acknowledgements
The time has come for me to express my gratitude and bow out. It’s been an honor for me to serve this School, which I hope to have done honorably.
I’d like to thank Guy Parmelin, the Swiss Federal Councilor with oversight of our School, for being with us today and offering his support. I’d also like to thank you, Monsieur Parmelin, for your patience with me – as you know, scientists can sometimes be like court jesters.
And as always, I’d like to thank everyone who worked behind the scenes to make this 2024 Magistrale a success.
For the music, my thanks go to “Marta and her big band.”