"AI Research Must Accelerate to Prevent Major Chaos"…Netflix Founder Donates 73.3 Billion Won to Alma Mater

The Largest Donation Since Its Founding
"I Am an Extreme Technological Optimist"
"We Will Fight for Humanity's Survival and Prosperity"

Reed Hastings, co-founder and chairman of Netflix, has been revealed to have donated hundreds of billions of won to his alma mater to support research related to artificial intelligence (AI).

According to Bowdoin College on the 24th (local time), Hastings donated $50 million (approximately 73.3 billion won) for an AI program. This is the largest donation since the school's founding in 1794. The school plans to use the fund to hire 10 new professors and support faculty members who aim to apply AI in education and research.

Netflix co-founder and Chairman Reed Hastings. Photo by AFP and Yonhap News Agency

In a recent interview with The New York Times (NYT), Hastings stated, "The pace of AI development and the systems could cause significant disruption to human activities," and emphasized, "More researchers need to study this promptly." He added, "I am an extreme technological optimist, viewing human progress from two perspectives: technological advancement and the development of moral and ethical systems," and said, "While technological progress is proceeding smoothly, system development needs to be strengthened."

He continued, "Initially, few people understood the changes social networking would bring to human interaction and behavior, but it grew rapidly afterward," and stressed, "The changes brought by AI will be even greater than those of social networking." He further stated, "Research must begin quickly before AI technological advancements cause unexpected risks or side effects," and added, "We will fight for humanity's survival and prosperity."

Meanwhile, Bowdoin College, located at the northeastern tip of the United States, is one of the top liberal arts colleges (LAC), and Hastings earned his bachelor's degree there in 1983.