Eric Schmidt on AI, energy and global power shifts
... and why we are building the very tutor he wants.
The recent TED conversation with Eric Schmidt is one of those rare interviews that stays with you. It’s about artificial intelligence, global power shifts, energy supply – and a casually dropped question that hit me hard:
“Why have we not built a personal tutor for every human being?”
Video on YouTube: The AI Revolution Is Underhyped, Eric Schmidt, TED
🇩🇪 Energy: The German Sonderweg in a Global Race
At 03:54, Schmidt is blunt about the energy crisis triggered by AI:
“We need 90 additional gigawatts in America – that’s 90 nuclear power plants. We’re building zero.”
While AI systems are scaling exponentially, so are their energy requirements. Meanwhile, Germany is phasing out nuclear power and debating heat pumps.
How are we supposed to lead in AI if we ignore the physical reality behind it?
🌍 Geostrategy: Open vs. Closed – the Global Stakes
At 10:27, Schmidt outlines China’s position:
“China is likely to be the leader in open source… proliferation is dangerous at the cyber level and the bio level.”
And at 11:56, he takes it further – describing a chilling but plausible scenario: two countries racing toward superintelligence, with one only six months behind. The temptation? Preemptive action.
While we in Europe still hold ethics panels, others are already creating facts on the ground.
Either we help shape the future – or it will be shaped for us.
🧠 A Reason to Hope: The Personal Tutor for Everyone
Then comes this moment at 19:42 – almost in passing, but deeply meaningful:
“Why do we not have every human being on the planet have their own tutor in their own language to help them learn something new? Starting with kindergarten. It’s obvious. Why have we not built it? … The technology works.”
Schmidt is right. The technology exists.
What’s been missing is a compelling reason to apply it where it matters most.
That’s what we’re building now.
We’re building ENA – a personal, AI-powered tutor that supports people in their own language, in their real work environment, as they learn.
Not in five years. Now.
Here’s a first glimpse of ENA in action:
Video on YouTube: I’m ENA
Closing Thought
Eric Schmidt calls it the most important transformation of the next 500 – maybe 1,000 – years.
“Don’t screw it up.”
We’re trying not to.
The real threat isn’t superintelligence.
The real threat is that we keep watching – and pretend that progress and education will just happen by themselves.
ENA is our “no” to digital complacency – and our “yes” to responsibility.
Tags: #AI #Geopolitics #Energy #Education #OpenSource #Superintelligence #Germany #ENA #PersonalTutor
First published on Substack.