Jeff Dean was a University of Washington graduate student in the 1990s, optimizing software compilers for object-oriented programming languages in a trailer wedged next to the old computer science building.
On Friday evening, Dean returned to the UW’s Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering as Google’s chief scientist and a co-leader of its Gemini AI models, with a message for graduates about the technology he and his colleagues have shaped — and to which many of them will soon be contributing at places such as Anthropic, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia.
“AI is an incubator for ideas,” he said, “not a substitute for human ingenuity.”
Speaking to a packed audience at the Allen School commencement ceremonies at UW’s Alaska Airlines Arena, Dean told the graduates that AI technologies may be able to draft code and summarize data, but can’t replicate their experiences, their ethics, or their sense of what’s worth building. Knowing what matters, he said, “can be your superpower.”
He didn’t address the state of the tech job market, but said they’re graduating at a pivotal moment, when the world needs their fresh perspectives and sharp thinking.
The Allen School’s choice of graduation speaker and his focus on AI might have been a risky proposition in a different setting. But given the audience, there were cheers and applause — not booing or jeering of the sort that has made headlines at graduations around the country this spring.
It also helped that Dean’s message was clear-eyed and balanced. He acknowledged the real concerns about the technology, telling the graduates that powerful advances carry responsibility.
“We must intentionally design safeguards and…
