Public transcript

Trojan Talks Ep. 3: President Beong-Soo Kim with Eric Schmidt

By: USC
Length: 38 min
Language: American English
Text from: the video's captions
Transcribed: 14 October 2026

Read the full transcript Open on YouTube

Notes in English.

Summary

In this episode of Trojan Talks, President Beong-Soo Kim welcomes Eric Schmidt, who opens with an AI-written sonnet about the Marshall School. Schmidt argues that AI will both enhance and disrupt higher education, but that universities, teachers, and jobs will adapt rather than disappear. He discusses democracy and AI, China and foreign students, the need for universities to secure compute, and the coming agentic revolution, closing with an optimistic message to students.

Key points

Schmidt argues both AI narratives are true: universities will adapt, driven by graduate students and postdocs rather than faculty.
He predicts jobs will change but not disappear, citing the persistent truck driver shortage despite automation.
He warns against outsourcing democracy or human dignity to AI, the theme of his New York Times editorial.
He strongly favors keeping foreign, especially Chinese-born, graduate students in America by stapling a green card to their diplomas.
He says China dominates EVs and batteries and may dominate humanoid robots, but lacks the financial depth to fund AI at America's scale.
He advises USC to build a large data center, get donor-funded chips, and have students build an agent orchestration framework.
He describes the agentic revolution as the next big thing, illustrated by his five-agent house-buying workflow.
His message to students: stop complaining, think in terms of scale, and participate in the agentic revolution.

Questions it answers

00:00AI narratives and university adaptation

Will AI enhance higher education or disrupt it?

Both. Schmidt says universities will adapt, driven by graduate students and postdocs, and that teachers, universities, and jobs are not going away, though how people work will change.

Adaptation comes from graduate students and postdocs.
Schmidt suggests USC introduce a prompt engineering class.

04:50Jobs, growth, and American exceptionalism

Will automation eliminate jobs?

He argues jobs will change but not disappear, citing the truck driver shortage, and that democracies must grow through productivity, where America excels and Europe fails.

Truck driving is the number one U.S. job shortage despite being automatable.
Technology invention is key to American exceptionalism.

09:37Democracy and human dignity

Why did Schmidt write that you can't outsource democracy to AI?

He worries people frustrated with democracy will hand decisions to AI, which he calls a loss of human dignity; AI should instead be used to encourage constructive dialogue.

Don't give human dignity to non-human activity.
AI can be used to improve communication across tribal divides.

11:26Social media, loneliness, and critical thinking

What does Schmidt say about social media and student thinking?

He worries about loneliness, children bonding with intelligent toys over people, and reduced critical thinking from phones, recommending phones-off classrooms and his airplane-mode trick.

Phones off in classrooms; talk without anonymity.
He trusts faculty to detect LLM-assisted cheating.

16:17Industry partnerships and technology diffusion

How should USC work with industry and government on AI?

He says firms need universities more than vice versa, that technology diffusion takes decades (Waymo from 1994/2004 to 2025), and that most wealth is made during mainstreaming, not at the start.

USC has strong math leverage in negotiations.
Self-driving took 20 years from university contest to deployment.

20:10China, foreign students, and open source

How should the U.S. handle China and Chinese students?

He wants green cards stapled to foreign graduates' diplomas, says Chinese research quality is excellent (DeepSeek R1), China dominates EVs and batteries and likely humanoid robots, but lacks America's financial scale; engage rather than fully separate.

Chinese-born authors are core to top American AI papers.
Every Chinese model is open source; U.S. firms will likely offer tiered portfolios.

28:37Compute, data centers, and agents

What should USC do about compute and agents?

Build a large data center (he jokes about a Republican state like Nevada), get donors to fund Nvidia or Google TPU v7 chips, and have computer science graduate students build an agent orchestration framework for the whole university.

No university has enough computing resources today.
The agentic revolution is the next big thing; most student agents will be useless and that's fine.

35:45Message to students

What should students do about AI anxiety?

Stop complaining (you're in California), expect life extension to 100+, and think like a computer scientist—build scalable solutions for everyone, not just yourself.

Come up with a scalable business model.
The arrival of a new intelligence is a huge productivity gain.

Notes

Opening

President Beong-Soo Kim welcomes Eric Schmidt, who reads a sonnet about the Marshall School that he says took him one sentence to write with AI. Schmidt calls the arrival of AI a historical moment comparable to electricity.

Universities and Jobs

Schmidt says both narratives—AI as enhancer and disruptor—are correct. American universities (18 of the top 20 globally) will adapt, driven by graduate students and postdocs, not faculty. Teachers, universities, and jobs are not going away, but roles will change. He cites the truck driver shortage as evidence automation doesn't eliminate jobs, and argues democracies must grow through productivity, which America does well and Europe does not.

Democracy and Human Dignity

Referencing his New York Times editorial, Schmidt warns against letting AI run society—appeals to authoritarian AI solutions would be a loss of human dignity. He suggests AI could instead be used to encourage constructive dialogue.

Social Media and Critical Thinking

He discusses Jonathan Haidt and Scott Galloway's work on loneliness and young men, and a thought experiment about a child whose intelligent toy bear becomes their best friend, eroding social skills. On students prompting LLMs instead of writing, he trusts faculty to detect cheating, but worries about reduced critical thinking from phones and social media. His trick: airplane mode.

China and Foreign Students

Schmidt praises Chinese-born researchers as essential to American science and says the U.S. should staple green cards to their diplomas. China dominates EVs and batteries and likely humanoid robots; DeepSeek's R1 reasoning advances are real, but China lacks scale and financial depth. Chinese models are open source; American firms will likely release portfolios of models at different price points.

Advice for USC

Build a big data center (jokingly suggesting a Republican state like Nevada), get donors to fund Nvidia or Google TPU v7 chips, teach prompt engineering, teach curiosity, avoid LLM lock-in, and have graduate students build an agent orchestration framework. He illustrates agents with a five-step house-buying workflow and calls the agentic revolution the next big thing.

Message to Students

Stop complaining (you're in California), expect life extension to 100+, and think like a computer scientist—build scalable things for everyone, not just yourself.

Text from the video's own captions. Summary and notes written by AI from the transcript, so check anything important against the recording.