Sunday Speaker: Human Purpose in the Age of AI - Anoop Grewal

Sunday Speaker Topic: Human Purpose in the Age of AI - Anoop Grewal

As AI becomes capable of doing more of the work through which people have traditionally found identity, status, and purpose, a question emerges: What makes a human life meaningful despite and/or with AI? Drawing on philosophy and responses from students, educators, and community members, this talk explores how we might rethink dignity, contribution, and human flourishing in the age of AI.

For much of modern life, the question “What do you do?” has served as a shorthand for something much larger: Who are you?

Work does far more than provide income. It can give us structure, identity, social recognition, relationships, and the feeling that we are useful to others. Philosopher Andrea Veltman argues that meaningful work can be an important part of human flourishing. Yet David Graeber’s critique of “bullshit jobs” reminds us that employment and meaningful contribution are not the same thing. Hannah Arendt goes further, distinguishing between labor, work, and action, and suggesting that human life has always contained forms of meaning that extend far beyond economic production.

Artificial intelligence is making us revisit at least some of these questions!
If machines become capable of performing more cognitive, creative, administrative, and technical work, what happens to societies that have tied dignity and identity so closely to productivity? If fewer hours of human labor are eventually needed, will people experience that as liberation, loss, or some combination of both?
To explore these questions, I am also asking students, educators, colleagues, and others how they understand purpose in their own lives; and then presenting the findings. What gives them a sense of meaning? How much of their identity comes from work or study? What would they miss if they no longer needed to work for income? And if AI took over more economically valuable tasks, what would they want to spend more of their lives doing?

This talk asks whether AI might force us to separate two ideas we have long treated as together/related work and having a purpose.
If productivity becomes less central to human identity, perhaps meaning will need to be found more deliberately in relationships, creativity, learning, caregiving, service, civic participation, curiosity, stewardship, and contribution to a shared world.

Bio:
Anoop Grewal is a Teaching Professor in Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, with a research background in robotics, dynamics, and control and then joined ASU in 2014.

His primary professional focus is engineering education, particularly experiential and project-based learning, student mentorship, and human-centered engineering. His courses emphasize hands-on, open-ended projects that rely on teamwork, problem-solving, real-world application, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

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