Chen Penong, a professor at the Department of Information Engineering at National Taiwan University, pointed out that if Taipei wants to develop into a real AI city, the key is not to invest a lot of money to purchase equipment and computing power, but to establish an ecosystem where talents and resources attract each other. She believes that policies such as "small class teaching", "dual tutors", "AI wallet" and "Taipei Research Institute" proposed by Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang will help cultivate talents, reduce the burden on teachers, and attract outstanding talents to stay and develop in Taipei.
As the nine-in-one election comes to a close, the "Taipei Mayoral Candidate Shen Boyang Academic Support Association" initiated by Taiwanese academic circles held an inaugural meeting on the 9th. About 300 people attended. Chen Penong not only attended to support, but also held a dialogue with Shen based on the "HEART" (space, empowerment, companionship, resilience, time) political views proposed by Shen.
Chen Penong posted on Facebook on the 9th that she and Shen Boyang shared relatively difficult technical content at a cognitive warfare forum many years ago, but because it was during the epidemic at the time, she was unable to take a group photo, which made her feel very regretful. Fortunately, yesterday I finally had the opportunity to ask for help from Shen Boyang in person and take a group photo. I also echoed the "Empower" concept in Shen Boyang's "HEART" policy and shared my views on AI cities, education transformation and talent cultivation.
Chen Penong pointed out that many people hope that Taipei will become an AI city, but a true AI city does not rely on vast land or huge investment in equipment and computing power, but must establish an ecosystem that attracts talents and resources to each other. To make industries in different fields willing to invest, we must first cultivate talents with forward-looking vision.
She believes that the future development of the AI industry cannot just follow the instructions of others, but requires young people to have unique insights and create technologies and industries that do not yet exist. Therefore, how to cultivate talents in the AI era will become a core issue in the education and competitiveness of future generations.
Chen Penong said that in modern society, information is obtained quickly, and many people are accustomed to reading organized lazy bags. However, if they only passively receive information, they may eventually be replaced by tools. Future competitiveness no longer depends on traditional knowledge recitation, but on the ability to master high-end tools and achieve goals.
For example, she said that in order to judge whether AI city-related policy discussions are feasible, one must know how to ask questions to AI, verify data, and have the ability to conduct comprehensive analysis and independent thinking. She emphasized that the smarter the AI, the deeper the human thinking ability must be. This is the high-level ability that the next generation really needs to cultivate.
Chen Penong further pointed out that if we want to cultivate students' higher-order thinking skills, teachers will play an even more important role in the education scene than in the past. This is why she supports Shen Boyang’s education policies, including reducing the workload of teachers through “small class teaching”, “dual tutors” and “administrative teaching diversion”, while establishing a support mechanism for teacher-teacher cooperation to reduce the pressure on front-line education personnel.
She believes that only by allowing teachers to devote more attention to cultivating students' thinking skills can children be competitive in the future.
Talking about the "Empower" in Shen Boyang's "HEART" policy, Chen Penong said that after establishing a solid educational foundation, young people must also be given the opportunity to go abroad to expand their horizons. This is not only learning technology, but more importantly, being exposed to the world's cutting-edge innovative culture that dares to dream and break through the existing framework.
Taking San Francisco in the United States as an example, she believes that the reason why the city has become the capital of AI is precisely because it has gathered top talents with innovative spirit.
However, Chen Penong also reminded that in addition to cultivating talents, we must also think about how to retain talents. If we just send young people overseas without providing a stage for them to demonstrate their expertise after returning home, I am afraid it will cause a serious brain drain.
Therefore, she particularly agrees with Shen Boyang’s idea of establishing a “Taipei Research Institute”. Chen Penong believes that when young people with international perspectives return to Taipei, the institute can become a platform for them to display their independent thinking abilities, implement projects, and gain attention from the industry.
She described the Taipei Research Institute as not only a research institution, but also as a "magnet" to attract talents, retaining outstanding talents in Taipei and further increasing the willingness to invest in the industry. However, she also admitted that for non-profit-oriented research institutes, how to attract top talents will be a difficult problem that must be faced in future policy implementation.
On the other hand, Chen Penong pointed out that society must also face up to the resource gap caused by the cost of acquiring AI tools. She believes that "the power of tools will limit the breadth of young people's dreaming and training thinking."
She said that many studies have pointed out that the price of AI models is often proportional to capabilities. Without external support, Taipei's young generation may lose the opportunity to train higher-order thinking because they cannot afford high-end tools.
In this regard, Chen Penong expressed his support for Shen Boyang's "AI Wallet" and "Starting Capital for Dream Project", hoping that through the city government's provision of resources, the threshold for obtaining high-end tools will be lowered, resource inequality will be broken, and everyone will have the opportunity to use forward-looking tools to develop abilities.
She believes that providing resources that are in line with international standards is also an important key to retaining top talents. Only by creating a good development environment can top talents be willing to stay in Taipei.
Chen Penong finally emphasized that urban development, educational transformation and the establishment of a talent retention ecosystem cannot be achieved overnight. In the process of long-term investment in talents, you will inevitably face voices demanding short-term performance. However, setting long-term goals, monitoring progress, making timely corrections and resolutely executing them are the core abilities that scholars are good at.
She said that this is why she believes that Taipei’s transformation and next-generation talent deployment need to be led by scholars with long-term vision like Shen Boyang.
