On May 22, the UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society held two commencement ceremonies to recognize the 1,799 students graduating from the college with degrees in computer science, data science and statistics, gathering at the Greek Theatre in cap and gown to celebrate their success.
Dean Jennifer Chayes opened the ceremonies by welcoming students, their families and guests. She noted that the CDSS undergraduate majors in computer science and data science are currently the two largest degree programs at Berkeley. “And statistics punches above its weight,” she added. “Go Stats!”
Chayes thanked faculty and staff for being “tireless advocates for our students.” She recognized the thousands of family members and friends who traveled near and far to celebrate with their graduates, and the thousands more who were watching remotely via livestream.
“We need brilliant and ethical computer scientists, data scientists and statisticians to help us address complex challenges facing our world, including climate change and sustainability, biomedicine and human health, and societal well-being,” Chayes said.
Andy Konwinski, co-founder of Laude Ventures, Perplexity, and Databricks, provided the commencement address to the graduates. Describing himself as “a kid from rural Wisconsin,” Konwinski completed his Ph.D. in computer science at Berkeley in 2012. He spoke with enthusiasm about the “big energy” he felt accepting his diploma on the same stage at the Greek Theatre 11 years before.
'Think about humanity'
In a 20-minute address, Konwinski congratulated the students on reaching an important milestone and told them they should stop succeeding. “You have run at success, and now you have it,” he said. “You have your degree from the world’s most distinguished university.”
“I think you need to stop succeeding. Or to be more specific, I think you need to stop chasing success,” Konwinski said. “Run at failure. I’m worried that if you optimize for your success, you’re not going to pick a hard enough problem. And our problems are really, really hard. They are existential.
“So don't think about your success – think about humanity. Think at the species level. Think about the temperature of our planet. Think about the jobs that AI is going to displace and the ones you can help it create.
“Think about the total collapse that’s coming if we can't figure out how to talk to those that we disagree with. That one feels impossible to me. These problems are so hard that if you choose to work on them, you will likely fail.
“You will fail, and you have to work on them anyway,” he said. “Run at that failure, because if you don’t set your sights on something so audacious as moving humanity forward – you, the best and brightest of us – then who will?”
‘Become part of something bigger than yourself'
In order to move humanity forward, Konwinski told the graduates to become part of something bigger than themselves.
During his talk, Konwinski gave shout-outs to several Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering (EECS) alumni and faculty as part of the graduates’ legacy, including Steve Wozniak, David Patterson, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, Ali Ghodsi, and Aravind Sravinas.
“Berkeley itself has been responsible for a lot of the technology paradigms that have moved humanity forward,” Konwinski said. “And they're nothing compared to the profound implications of engineered intelligence on our species. Artificial intelligence is existential.”
In closing, Konwinski said: “You are among the smartest in our species, and the species needs you to start failing now, your parents, your friends… My parents and my four-year-old and two-year-old daughters need you to stop worrying about your success and think at the species level.
“I'm still that rural Wisconsin kid who’s part of something so much bigger than myself. And I'm gonna run at these hard problems. I'll see you out there.”
