The Amazon CEO encouraged experimentation with AI while emphasising that human judgment remains essential in education and work.
Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy has urged young people to become comfortable using artificial intelligence without allowing it to replace independent thinking.
Speaking on The a16z Show, in an episode published on October 23, 2026, Jassy discussed how AI could expand people’s capabilities—and why using it effectively still requires judgment. The conversation was hosted by a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg.
“You can’t run away from it,” Jassy said, encouraging young people to learn about the technology and test what it can help them accomplish.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleAI skills extend beyond software development
Jassy’s advice was not limited to people pursuing technical careers.
He cited his two children as examples, saying both had used AI to build applications despite not being developers. His broader recommendation was to experiment regularly, including with tasks outside familiar areas.
The point was that AI can lower some barriers to creating something new. That does not remove the need to understand whether the result works or serves its intended purpose.
For someone learning a new tool, producing an initial result and evaluating that result are separate tasks. An application that runs, for example, may still need testing before others can depend on it.
Education needs to address how students use AI
Jassy also argued that universities should recognise students’ use of AI rather than expect the technology to disappear from education.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleDrawing on business-school work, he described how reading, research, note-taking and identifying key issues contribute to analysing a case. AI could help students reach an informed starting point faster, he suggested.
That raises a practical question for education: how can students demonstrate understanding when tools can perform parts of the preparation?
A useful distinction is between receiving an explanation and being able to defend a conclusion. Students can test their understanding by explaining an argument in their own words, checking its evidence and considering what would make it wrong.
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Add INDYASTORY on GoogleHis warning about writing centres on coherence
Jassy pointed to AI-assisted writing as an area where problems can remain beneath a polished surface. He said generated passages can feel poorly connected or fail to fit together convincingly.
These were his observations about the quality of some writing, rather than evidence that authorship can always be identified from style.
The useful editorial test is whether the work is accurate, coherent and supported. Fluent sentences alone do not establish that the underlying reasoning is sound.
How readers can put the advice into practice
A practical approach is to pair experimentation with deliberate checking:
| When using AI for… | Keep responsibility for… |
|---|---|
| Research preparation | Checking original sources, dates and context |
| Drafting | Verifying facts and making the argument coherent |
| Building an application | Testing behaviour and understanding limitations |
| Comparing options | Choosing criteria and examining assumptions |
| Learning a subject | Explaining the reasoning independently |
These are practical takeaways from the discussion, not a checklist issued by Jassy.
His remarks encourage young people to develop two abilities together: using AI to attempt more ambitious work and retaining enough understanding to assess what it produces. The technology can assist the process, while the person using it remains responsible for the final judgment.
