Academician He Jifeng on three abilities for talent in the AI era: defining problems, verifying outputs, and moral judgment

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+1 Academician He Jifeng on the three abilities needed for talent in the AI era: defining problems, verifying outputs, and moral judgment. The Paper reporter Yu Yan 2026-10-31 13:02 Source: The Paper ∙ Sci-Tech Innovation 101 > Listen to full text Font size

On October 30, at the Artificial Intelligence Parallel Forum of the 2026 World Laureates Forum, He Jifeng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, computer software expert, and lifetime professor at East China Normal University, spoke about talent cultivation in the AI era, saying that as artificial intelligence is able to complete more and more complex work that in the past only professional researchers could complete, humanity needs to rethink the meaning of learning knowledge and what core abilities should be possessed in the future.

In He Jifeng's view, AI is good at executing tasks and generating results, but it is difficult for it to independently define truly research-worthy questions, and also difficult for it to identify hidden defects and risks. A complete professional knowledge system, evaluation standards, and task goals still need to be established by humans.

"In the past, the purpose of learning knowledge was to produce answers oneself; in the AI era, foundational knowledge has become the 'internal yardstick' by which we verify and screen AI outputs," He Jifeng pointed out. Humans mastering professional principles is no longer merely for repeating the calculation and generation work that AI can quickly complete, but more importantly for having the ability to identify AI errors, discover hidden risks, and judge the merits of solutions.

He particularly warned that without solid underlying knowledge, people are easily misled by AI outputs that appear fluent but actually contain flaws. Therefore, in teaching practice, training such as fault injection and troubleshooting and debugging has become especially important. Such training can help students see through appearances, discover underlying defects, and cultivate independent professional judgment.

He Jifeng further proposed that talent cultivation in the AI era should focus on training three abilities: defining problems, verifying AI outputs, and making moral judgments. Humans must not only learn to use AI, but also need the ability to judge whether AI results are reliable and whether they meet actual needs.

In addition to talent cultivation, He Jifeng also emphasized the importance of trustworthy and secure governance of artificial intelligence. He said that the development of artificial intelligence must not only pursue performance breakthroughs, but should also ensure that systems have explainability, verifiability, and traceability.

"Artificial intelligence should never be a black box," He Jifeng believes. As AI capabilities continue to strengthen, the harm that may be caused by technology abuse will also expand accordingly. It is necessary to improve safety protection mechanisms through technical and governance measures, identify potential risks, and ensure that responsibility can be traced when problems arise. Responsible editor: Huan Yanhong. The Paper news tip: 021-962866. The Paper, unauthorized reproduction is prohibited +1 Favorite I want to report #He Jifeng #AI #2026WorldLaureatesForum View more