Speaking at the 2026 Chongli Forum on November 12, New Oriental Education & Technology founder Yu Minhong offered a characteristically philosophical take on artificial intelligence, suggesting that debates about AI's ultimate threat to humanity miss the point entirely.

Yu drew a parallel between AI and nuclear technology, noting that nuclear energy can power weapons of destruction or illuminate cities through power plants. In his view, regardless of how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, it remains fundamentally neutral. The same tool can serve either constructive or destructive ends depending on human choices.

Addressing the most extreme hypothetical scenario, Yu dismissed concerns about AI breaking free from human control and wiping out our species as unimportant. He argued that humanity is already orchestrating its own potential demise through unchecked greed, endless warfare, atmospheric pollution, and global warming. If extinction comes, it may well arrive through our own actions long before any machine rebellion. Consequently, pondering whether AI could destroy us is a distraction from more pressing considerations.

The truly critical question, according to Yu, is whether artificial intelligence will serve humanity's benefit during our existence on this planet. This leads to two divergent paths: one where humans maintain control and harness AI for good, and another where either human or machine control spirals into catastrophe. These represent fundamentally different directions with vastly different outcomes.

Yu concluded by emphasizing the need to rethink what AI should do for us. Before asking what we can achieve with this technology, we must first ask what we should not do with it. That boundary-defining question, he believes, is the most vital one we can address today.