Watch the full session on our channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc4zlAHRJvw.
The latest addition of the Distinguished Speaker Series featured Dr. Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard University and the psychologist known for originating the theory of multiple intelligences, and Professor Emerita of Psychology at Boston College Dr. Ellen Winner, whose work centers on cognition and the arts. The session doubled as a Masterclass for Aspire Leaders Program learners, with an audience made up of over 3,500 young learners, professionals, and educators around the globe.
Together, the speakers explored how Dr. Gardner’s decades-old theory holds true in the new age of artificial intelligence, and what it means for how people learn, work, and think about their own capabilities moving forward.
Redefining “Smart”
During the session, Dr. Gardner and Dr. Winner described the origins of the multiple intelligences theory.
Dr. Gardner’s research on patients with brain damage showed that specific abilities could break down independently of one another; evidence that intelligence isn’t a single unified trait, but a set of relatively separate capacities. That work led him to propose eight intelligences — linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist — and he challenged the idea that a single test score could capture what someone is capable of.
“The notion of a single intelligence where you can rank people in terms of how smart they are is very, very limited. At most, it can predict how you will do in a certain kind of school, in a certain historical era,” Dr. Gardner said. “Look much more carefully and much more closely at the human mind [and] human cognition. Look at what’s valued in different cultures — at different historical times — and you look at how the human nervous system develops and how it’s organized.”
Dr. Gardner then pushed his theory into new territory and explored its meaning in today’s age of artificial intelligence.
He proposed that if intelligence is plural rather than singular, the pressing question isn’t “how smart am I,” but which of a person’s strengths still matter, and how to grow them, as machines take over more and more cognitive tasks. For an audience of students and early-career professionals navigating an AI-saturated job market, the topic was extremely relevant.
AI, But Make It Personal
Dr. Gardner shared an unexpected position with the audience: he sees artificial intelligence as a net positive for education. He pointed to personalized tutoring as an example, noting that historically, only the privileged had access to one-on-one instruction.
“Those of you who know Greek history know that Alexander the Great was lucky enough to be tutored by Aristotle, the great philosopher. But most of us can’t afford to have that kind of individualized tutoring,” he said. “Now with AI, everybody can have an individual tutor.”
He asserted that AI could finally make something that was once reserved for royalty more accessible. Dr. Gardner then extended that argument further, predicting that most children will master the basics, reading, writing, calculation, and basic coding, by around age ten. He believes that education will shift toward students working with tailored AI systems built around how each thinks and learns.
Despite this, he was careful to draw a boundary around what AI should not be trusted to do.
“I think dealing with difficult ethical and moral questions has to be a human endeavor,” he said. “We can draw on artificial intelligence, but it has to be people in the neighborhood saying, ‘look, we don’t like this plant over here, whether it’s a nuclear plant or a poisonous ivy. What should we do with it?’ That has to be done by human discussion and human argument.”
Decisions such as these are better solved through discussion, debate, and reflection, rather than when handed off to an algorithm.
Why Easier Isn’t Always Better
The session also explored another side of the conversation: whether convenience today comes at the cost of capability tomorrow. Dr. Winner emphasized the importance of struggle.
“We get flow from thinking and from creating, and we don’t want AI to take that from us, and think for us, and create for us,” she said.
She stated that the satisfaction of working through a hard problem, painting a picture, or composing music is part of what gives human life meaning, even when a machine could do the task better or faster.
The tension between convenience and growth came up again when a psychology student from Peru asked whether relying on AI to think for us erodes the very abilities we’re trying to build.
“If we don’t struggle or strain when we’re using our intelligences, they’re probably going to atrophy,” Dr. Gardner replied.
Outsourcing the hard parts of thinking doesn’t just make life easier, it risks weakening the exact mental muscles that made someone capable in the first place. Responsible and practical use of AI — especially in today’s world — is vastly important.
The session closed on a note that tied the whole conversation together: an acknowledgment that everyone in the room — including future generations — would live in an ever-changing world of possibilities unimaginable by those of the past. Dr. Gardner called that reality both frightening and a wonderful challenge.
He encouraged learners to keep asking better questions, keep doing good work, and continue applying human intellect to modern problems and challenges.
