January 29, 2026
Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,
As an economist, I was thrilled to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos and came back with renewed energy and ideas. Among many takeaways, it was an important reminder that universities worldwide continue to share a commitment to pushing for even more positive change, whether in the lives of their students and faculty or in serving humanity.
Discussions in Davos on the relationship between AI and higher education especially piqued my interest, from teaching students how to understand, discern, and use AI to how it can help accelerate discovery. As a global leader in both developing and researching AI, our UC Berkeley is at the forefront of this rapidly changing technology. In this article, 11 of the university’s leading experts summarize what they’re watching for in 2026, including:
What can we trust? According to Hany Farid, professor of information, deepfakes will become “routine, scalable, and cheap,” blurring the line between reality and falsity. He is especially concerned about how much effort it takes to debunk a deepfake after it spreads. “How society adapts — technically, legally and culturally — to a world where seeing is no longer believing will be critical,” he says.
Can robots learn useful tasks? Ken Goldberg, professor of engineering, says that despite claims that robots will replace human workers, they lack the dexterity of kitchen staff or construction workers — by far. His lab is working on closing the gap between the amount of data available for training large language models such as ChatGPT and the amount of data available to train robots.
Will children become isolated? Jodi Halpern, professor of public health, predicts a rise in companion chatbots for children. “In the short term, we need regulation until safety is established,” she says. In the long term, she questions how toddlers will learn the mutual empathy that is crucial for successful relationships and how they will participate in democracy with people who have different perspectives.
Regardless of what AI research at Berkeley addresses, all of it is fundamentally human-centered. I invite you to explore a range of articles that showcase our leading thinkers working on climate change, human health, the ethics of AI, and more. Thank you for turning to Berkeley to help you make sense of the complicated issues that are reshaping our lives and future.
Go Bears!
Chancellor Rich Lyons
As an economist, I was thrilled to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos and came back with renewed energy and ideas. Among many takeaways, it was an important reminder that universities worldwide continue to share a commitment to pushing for even more positive change, whether in the lives of their students and faculty or in serving humanity.
Discussions in Davos on the relationship between AI and higher education especially piqued my interest, from teaching students how to understand, discern, and use AI to how it can help accelerate discovery. As a global leader in both developing and researching AI, our UC Berkeley is at the forefront of this rapidly changing technology. In this article, 11 of the university’s leading experts summarize what they’re watching for in 2026, including:
What can we trust? According to Hany Farid, professor of information, deepfakes will become “routine, scalable, and cheap,” blurring the line between reality and falsity. He is especially concerned about how much effort it takes to debunk a deepfake after it spreads. “How society adapts — technically, legally and culturally — to a world where seeing is no longer believing will be critical,” he says.
Can robots learn useful tasks? Ken Goldberg, professor of engineering, says that despite claims that robots will replace human workers, they lack the dexterity of kitchen staff or construction workers — by far. His lab is working on closing the gap between the amount of data available for training large language models such as ChatGPT and the amount of data available to train robots.
Will children become isolated? Jodi Halpern, professor of public health, predicts a rise in companion chatbots for children. “In the short term, we need regulation until safety is established,” she says. In the long term, she questions how toddlers will learn the mutual empathy that is crucial for successful relationships and how they will participate in democracy with people who have different perspectives.
Regardless of what AI research at Berkeley addresses, all of it is fundamentally human-centered. I invite you to explore a range of articles that showcase our leading thinkers working on climate change, human health, the ethics of AI, and more. Thank you for turning to Berkeley to help you make sense of the complicated issues that are reshaping our lives and future.
Go Bears!
Chancellor Rich Lyons
Chancellor’s Choice
Podcast: The inside story of the first CRISPR cure — Victoria Gray spent 34 years battling the debilitating pain of sickle cell disease. In 2019, she became the first person in the world to receive a revolutionary therapy created with CRISPR, the Nobel Prize-winning gene-editing tool discovered at Berkeley. Listen to the latest episode of “Berkeley Voices,” which features Berkeley scholars working on life-changing research, to hear how Gray traded a life that felt hopeless for a future she never thought she’d see.
2026 Clark Kerr Lectures: “The American University in Crisis” — In 1963, UC President Clark Kerr said American universities were “at a hinge in history.” We are at an equally pivotal moment today. Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber will examine how American universities have become more vulnerable to political attack and how they should define their civic mission in the years ahead. February 24 and 26 at 2 p.m. at UC Berkeley Law. Please register to attend.