Funny but serious, Chieng issues an AI warning to grads
‘Daily Show’ star and Class Day headliner is fine writing his own emails
Liz Mineo
Harvard Staff Writer
May 27, 2026

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Using colorful language, Chieng leaned into his AI skepticism in remarks at Tercentenary Theatre, citing a 2025 MIT study titled “Your Brain on ChatGPT,” which found that overreliance on language learning models can lead to cognitive debt.

“I’m here to tell you the mission of your generation is to destroy AI,” said Chieng. “I know someone sitting out here right now who is saying, ‘What about the use of AI to pioneer breakthroughs in medicine and physics?’… If you’re using it for that purpose, you’re not the problem. I’m talking about the accumulation of cognitive debt due to excessive use of large language models … This is why you should be scared of AI.”

Chieng, who received commerce and law degrees from the University of Melbourne, has released three Netflix specials. His movie credits include “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Kung Fu Panda 4.” He is a correspondent and rotating host for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”

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He continued, “Whatever your chosen profession is, please don’t let AI rob you of the fun part of it. Your generation’s upcoming battle won’t be humans against AI; that’s at least two months away. … It’s going to be people with substance versus people with shallow knowledge. It’s going to be mastery versus faking it. It’s going to be people with good taste versus tacky. I trust you will put in the work necessary to be on the right side of those battles.”

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