Eric Charles HAWKINSON    Department   Kyoto University of Foreign Studies  ,    Position   Professor
Date	2026/03/28
Presentation Theme	The Automation Abyss: Why AI Should Be a Compass, Not a Chauffeur
Conference	TEDxInnovationU
Promoters	TEDx
Conference Type	International
Presentation Type	Speech (General)
Contribution Type	Individual
Invited	Invited
Country	Japan
Venue	Tokyo
Details	Imagine a world where you never get lost—because you never navigate. This is the "Automation Abyss" facing education. Eric Hawkinson, an expert who built his career on using AR and VR to make learning more active, sees agentic AI making it dangerously passive. He argues that by letting AI agents perform our intellectual journeys, we sacrifice the cognitive mapping that builds true expertise and wisdom. Drawing parallels from two decades of immersive tech integration, he outlines a different path: using AI not as a chauffeur to our destination, but as a compass that empowers our own exploration. The future of learning hinges on this fundamental design choice.