Noam Chomsky on AI
6 quotes from Noam Chomsky on the wall, 2022 to 2025, newest first. Each one is verbatim and links to where it was said. Sources include My Modern Met, Literary Hub, National Jurist.
- 2025
Technology as such is a neutral thing, just like a hammer
From the book Surviving the Twenty-First Century, Chomsky discusses automation's dual potential in a conversation with José Mujica, published by Verso Books, November 2025.
What it refers to
A response to Mujica's view that automation benefits only those who own the robots rather than workers.
Other voices
- It is a tool built by people with clear interests, often corporate onesJan WasserziehrThinker18 November 2025
- Society cannot function if no one is accountable for AIJaron LanierResearcher15 January 2026
- Every job will be changed as a result of AIJensen HuangBuilder29 August 2025
Literary HubNoam Chomsky and José Mujica on the Double Edged Sword of Automation - Literary Hub
- 2024
Doesn't have anything to do with education except undermining it
Noam Chomsky, quoted in National Jurist (2024), on ChatGPT's role in education.
Other voices
- I would really want my 14-year-old to use these toolsSam AltmanBuilder30 January 2024
- For over 30 years, i've heard 'XYZ will kill coding'Patrick Moorhead27 February 2024
A lumbering statistical engine for pattern matching
Linguist Noam Chomsky's description of large language models like ChatGPT, cited in a 2024 MIT Technology Review article on AI language learning research.
Other voices
- That, for me, really does shake up my worldviewJess Sullivan1 February 2024
- We are being boxed inJudith SimonThinker6 February 2024
- What distinguishes humans from machines?Bishop Paul Tighe30 April 2024
MIT Technology ReviewThis baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language
- 2023
If students aren't interested, they'll find a way around it
Noam Chomsky, interviewed by EduKitchen in 2023, on why students turn to ChatGPT instead of doing coursework themselves.
What it refers to
Why students turn to ChatGPT to avoid coursework they find boring under a teaching-to-test system.
Other voices
- The intervention between student and information available is the teacherManjula Srinivas12 May 2023
- Our students will stop being writers, and they will become editorsJane Rosenzweig22 January 2023
- Teachers and people are smarter and can adapt to itTom Lietz28 April 2023
- It's only a matter of timeCarrie Russell28 April 2023
My Modern MetNoam Chomsky Says ChatGPT Is a Form of "High-Tech Plagiarism"
ChatGPT is basically high-tech plagiarism
Noam Chomsky, interviewed by Thijmen Sprakel of EduKitchen in 2023, discussed ChatGPT's effect on education.
Other voices
- Our students will stop being writers, and they will become editorsJane Rosenzweig22 January 2023
- A blurry JPEG of the webTed ChiangWriter9 February 2023
- Just a giant autocomplete machineGary MarcusResearcher27 January 2023
- Basically a predictive keyboard on steroidsYann LeCunResearcher30 January 2023
- Teachers and people are smarter and can adapt to itTom Lietz28 April 2023
My Modern MetNoam Chomsky Says ChatGPT Is a Form of "High-Tech Plagiarism"
- 2022
Noam Chomsky, interviewed at a Fortune AI conference in 2022, criticized large language models for needing vast datasets while still not understanding language.
What it refers to
This describes the vast training datasets large language models require, which Chomsky contrasts with how little data human children need to learn language.
Other voices
- Dark matter of AIYejin Choi31 December 2022