Don: AI not a threat to jobs
Prof. Afolashade Kuyoro has reassured Nigerians that artificial intelligence (AI) is not an immediate threat to jobs, emphasizing instead its growing role as a partner in human imagination and innovation.
Prof. Afolashade Kuyoro has reassured Nigerians that artificial intelligence (AI) is not an immediate threat to jobs, emphasizing instead its growing role as a partner in human imagination and innovation.
The don delivered Babcock University’s inaugural lecture entitled: “From Data to Imagination: The Next Frontier of Intelligent Systems” on campus in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State.
Prof. Kuyoro explained AI’s evolution from data-driven prediction and classification to generative models capable of creating new content, simulations, and innovations.
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“Intelligence is no longer driven by data alone, but also by imagination,” she said.
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She highlighted imagination as humanity’s most precious faculty, stressing that machines are beginning to attain it. She urged collaboration between humans and AI, positioning technology as a complement to human creativity rather than a replacement.
Addressing ethical concerns, she stressed the need for transparency, fairness, safety, authorship accountability, and digital truth in AI development. To prepare for this future, she gave an eight-point recommendation including the establishment of a Babcock University Centre for Imaginative Intelligence, introduction of AI literacy programmes, strengthening of research collaborations as well as the creation of a strong institutional framework for the ethical use of AI and an AI-driven Smart Campus Initiative Development.
“Our university will become a living laboratory equipped with technologies such as predictive maintenance, intelligent security, student learning analytics and energy and resource optimization,” she said.
The lecture concluded with a powerful message: imagination will be the most valued skill driving civilization and governance.
She emphasized that humans must guide AI with ethics to ensure technology serves humanity’s best interests.
