Peter Norvig - The present and future of programming with AI

Peter Norvig is a Distinguished Education Fellow at Stanford’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute, a long-time researcher at Google,

Before Google, he headed the Computational Sciences Division at NASA where he served as NASA’s senior computer scientist and received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Award.

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The present and future of programming with AI

Most conversations about AI and the future of programming are high on buzzwords and low on substance. This one is different.

Peter explores how decades of progress in AI are influencing not just technology, but how we learn, think, and build. Here are the key ideas:

🔹 Textbooks are obsolete. Learning must be lifelong.With technology evolving faster than curricula can keep up, the traditional “one textbook” or “four-year degree” model no

longer works. AI education needs to be ongoing, personalized, and deeply interactive.

🔹 Programming is no longer just about code—it’s about judgment.The true skillset isn’t writing syntax, it’s building understanding. AI tools can supercharge learning, but only for those with strong foundations in problem-solving, critical thinking, and debugging.

🔹 AI thrives on uncertainty, not just complexity.While traditional software demands precise input and exact solutions, AI excels in ambiguity—making smart decisions based on incomplete, noisy, or messy data. This shift requires a different mindset from developers.

🔹 The next data revolution is video.Unlike curated text or images, raw video offers a continuous, unfiltered window into the real world. Norvig sees this as a powerful way for AI to connect physical reality with human behavior—less biased, more grounded.

This isn’t speculation. It’s a roadmap from one of AI’s most trusted voices—focused not on hype, but on how to think, learn, and build in the age of intelligent systems.