Nobel Laureate in Economics Thomas Sargent Delivers Keynote Lecture at UNAB on Artificial Intelligence and Human Thought Development

On the morning of Wednesday, November 27, the José María Aznar Auditorium at the Casona de Las Condes Campus was packed to hear Nobel Laureate in Economics, Thomas Sargent. Invited to Chile by the Economic Policy Institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business at Andrés Bello University (UNAB), Sargent presented the keynote lecture titled “Sources of Artificial Intelligence.”

UNAB’s President, Julio Castro, opened the event by emphasizing the unique opportunity for students and attendees to hear Sargent’s reflections on the phenomenon of artificial intelligence.

“I want to thank Professor Sargent for visiting our university. To our students, I extend my greetings and this message: having the opportunity to listen to an academic of Professor Sargent’s stature allows you to be part of a global dialogue on some of the most important issues of our time. This is not merely a theoretical lesson but a window into how knowledge can impact our lives and society as a whole,” President Castro remarked.

Miguel Vargas Román, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEN), expressed gratitude to the attendees and highlighted that such events are part of UNAB’s long-standing commitment to fostering knowledge dissemination and research. Through partnerships with institutions like the University of Chicago and the Becker-Friedman Institute, UNAB has hosted two Nobel Laureates: James Robinson and now Thomas Sargent.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to engage with a Nobel Laureate in Economics and all that entails—his distinguished career, depth of knowledge, and lifelong dedication to fields like monetary policy, rational expectations, and other elements that earned him the Nobel Prize,” noted Dean Vargas Román.

The Origins of Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of Human Cognition

In his lecture, Sargent began by defining key concepts related to artificial and human intelligence.

“The first thing I want to do is define certain terms, starting with what I mean by intelligence. In terms of human intelligence, there are three activities: the first is pattern recognition. This involves observing large volumes of data from our sensory inputs, which we compress and simplify by identifying patterns, creating stereotypes, and grouping information. The second activity is forming concepts or definitions. From patterns, we generalize—extrapolating beyond the original data to form beliefs about new, unseen phenomena. The third activity is decision-making,” Sargent explained.

Sargent described artificial intelligence as a machine—essentially a computer—capable of performing one or more of the three activities related to human intelligence.

He noted the paradoxical irony that artificial intelligence is a human creation, with people using their intelligence to build it. Sargent also cited Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, who identified areas where humans are cognitively limited due to evolutionary constraints, such as statistics (understanding the relative frequency of events), biology (interpreting genetically ingrained processes), economics (formulating ideas often guided by instincts), and physics.

Sargent argued that education’s key challenge is equipping individuals to overcome cognitive limitations. He emphasized that these limitations have been foundational in driving the invention of artificial intelligence.

In closing, Sargent traced the origins of artificial intelligence back to the 16th and 17th centuries, citing the contributions of thinkers from the Scientific Revolution, including Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Darwin.

The lecture was attended by students, senior academic leaders from UNAB, members of the university’s board of trustees, and scholars and administrators from other institutions.