This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a document drafted during a gathering of delegates from each American colony, who debated principles and ideas related to a new phase of government and self-determination. The Declaration states in its second paragraph, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” This year is also the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Dartmouth summer research project, in which a small group of scientists gathered to study the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can, in principle, be so precisely described that a machine can be built to simulate it. It was during this conference that the term “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) was first used. As our nation speeds into a new era of technological advancement, we are struggling with questions about truth and the influence of AI. No longer confined to research labs or Silicon Valley startups, AI has become a ubiquitous partner in our daily lives, summarizing information, generating images and text, supporting scientific breakthroughs, assisting with legal and medical research, and accelerating problem-solving in fields as diverse as climate science, economics, engineering, and the arts. Conversely, the high energy and water demands of its data centers, the fear of job displacement, ethical concerns regarding creative properties, and the potential erosion of privacy through surveillance and information access are issues that generate a sense of unease as this technology embeds itself deeper into our daily lives. Of utmost concern is the fact that AI has also become a tool used in the proliferation of disinformation and “deep fakes,” which can subvert our understanding of reality. What happens when truth is no longer “self-evident?” AI has the potential to become a practical tool worth understanding, as well as a confounding puzzle when it comes to detecting truth. This year’s Summer Lecture Series will feature presentations by six experts across a wide range of fields, who will provide clarity, context, and confidence to anyone—novice and expert alike—in seeking to understand the benefits and challenges of Artificial Intelligence.

In this talk—marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the 70th anniversary of the coining of the term artificial intelligence at Dartmouth—we revisit the Declaration as a lens for understanding AI. We begin with a curious question: why do modern AI systems often claim that the Declaration of Independence is AI-generated? Using this example, we unpack how these systems actually work. Along the way, we explore both their remarkable capabilities and their fundamental limitations. From there, we zoom out. The Declaration of Independence raises enduring questions about what makes a system legitimate: who it serves, where its authority comes from, and when it should be challenged. As AI becomes embedded in everyday life, these questions feel more relevant than ever. This talk offers a clear, accessible introduction to AI, grounded in both technical intuition and broader ideas about trust, responsibility, and human judgment.

What does it mean to name a disease, make a diagnosis, or truly understand what is wrong with someone? This talk explores those questions through a wide-ranging and accessible story about medicine, technology, and the changing nature of medical knowledge. Over the past two centuries, medicine has moved from bedside observation and the study of symptoms, to statistics and population health, to computers designed to assist with diagnosis. Today, with the rise of artificial intelligence, we are once again being asked to rethink what medical expertise is and how it should be used. Rather than offering a narrowly technical account, this lecture invites a broader reflection on how medicine has tried to bring order to the uncertainty of illness. Why have doctors and scientists repeatedly turned to new tools in the hope of making care more accurate, more rational, and more humane? What has been gained, and what has been lost, along the way? The second half of the talk turns to the present moment. It offers a balanced introduction to modern medical AI, including its genuine strengths, its important limitations, and the risks of relying on it too easily. The session will conclude with practical suggestions for how older adults can use AI tools to better understand health information, prepare for medical visits, and take a more active role in their own care.

Dan Reicher—Stanford and Dartmouth senior scholar, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy, and Google’s Director of Climate and Energy—will discuss his take on AI from several perspectives: fastgrowing applications; problematic uses; political and financial considerations; and his own experience with this transformational technology. Importantly, he will examine the massive energy and water demands of the AI data centers and how to address them. At the same time, Dan will consider ways that AI might accelerate the clean energy transition—and help address climate change—by improving electric grid operations, increasing industrial energy efficiency, and managing building energy use.

Artificial intelligence represents a transformation comparable in scale to electricity or the internet, yet most business leaders are approaching it as simply another productivity tool. Wheeler will argue this is a fundamental strategic error with consequences extending far beyond individual companies to the broader economy and workforce. Drawing on his experience living through the internet transformation—where companies like Amazon reimagined everything while others like Sears merely optimized existing models—Wheeler will examine why the current moment demands urgent rethinking, what’s at stake when leaders prioritize short-term efficiency over long-term transformation, and what becomes possible when change is embraced correctly. He will explore specific examples across industries, discuss implications for the next generation entering the workforce, and explain why the choices being made today will determine economic outcomes for decades to come.

AI lies at the heart of the strategic competition between the U.S. and China, including the use of AI in intelligence, cyber and military operations. As AI adoption accelerates in the national security space, the American people and their elected representatives must grapple with a number of critical questions: How will AI change the future of deterrence and warfare? What ethical issues will the use of AI in national security raise? What norms or principles should serve as guardrails for the use of AI? How do we get other nations to embrace these norms? And how do we train a whole generation of military officers to ensure human accountability for AI-driven outcomes on the battlefield?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now being used to make many lifechanging decisions in medicine, law, transportation, the military, business, and other areas. Critics object that using AI in these areas is inhumane and too likely to lead to harm, unfairness, and other moral wrongs. I will admit these dangers but reply that these decisions can be made safer and more ethical by building human moral values into the AI decisionmaker. Our team does this by surveying human moral judgments at two levels and then correcting for ignorance, confusion, and partiality. To show how our methods work in practice, I will demonstrate our websites, report initial empirical findings for kidney allocation and dementia, and finally discuss potential future applications to criminal law, transportation, business, and the military.