HPU’s Artificial Intelligence Expert in Residence Stresses the Importance of Life Skills in the AI Age

HIGH POINT, N.C., Sept. 28, 2026 – New York Times bestselling author Daniel Burrus told High Point University’s entire freshman class during his recent visit to campus that the life skills that they are learning at HPU will become even more valuable in the age of artificial intelligence.

Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading technology futurists and AI strategists. He shared his views about AI and his hopes for the next generation while visiting campus for the first time since being named HPU’s AI Expert in Residence this summer.

Burrus served as a guest lecturer for HPU President Nido Qubein’s First-Year Seminar on Life Skills in the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center on Sept. 17. He then told a large audience of students in the Callicutt Life Skills Theater that they should not fear AI as they prepare to start their careers after graduation.

“Entry-level work can be done by AI. You should all be worried about it like ‘Hey, I can do entry-level work, but how do you get a job when you’re an entry-level person?’” Burrus said. “Well, it’s a problem for the CEOs and presidents of companies everywhere because they know if they don’t have any entry-level people, their pipeline of employees as employees leave and retire is empty. Entry-level work is being redefined right now. Instead of it being busy work, we’re letting AI do the busy work and we’re elevating what entry-level work means. We’re giving you responsibility much sooner. Why? Because worse than legacy technology is legacy thinking.”

Burrus said older employees focus on what has happened in the past, which provides new opportunities for students who will soon enter the workforce.

“You’re thinking more about the future than they are,” Burrus said. “They need you.”

Burrus’ talk in Callicutt was part of HPU’s Life Skills certification program, in which students can earn a tuition-free microcredential in AI Literacy Foundations, as well as in coachability, motivation, emotional intelligence and more.

While AI has made many tasks easier, Burrus encouraged students to change their way of thinking to come up with solutions to their own problems. He introduced students to what he refers to as the “Skip It Principle,” which involves putting off what they view as their biggest problem since they cannot seem to solve it at the moment. Besides, their biggest problem might not actually be the real issue after all, he said.

“The Skip It Principle is really powerful,” Burrus said. “Whenever I meet a new CEO, I always ask them, ‘What’s your biggest problem?’ It’s a loaded question. I know whatever they say that’s not it. I know it’s something else.”

What Students Learned

Jocelyn Salas-Beza, a junior from Middletown, New Jersey, was among a group of students who stayed after Burrus’ presentation in Callicutt to speak with him one-on-one.

“I wanted to come to learn more about AI and how I can use it for just being an innovator,”

Salas-Beza said. “I’m interested in entrepreneurship, and I’m also a business analytics and economics major. So, I feel like using AI to integrate it with business analytics is very important.”

Like Salas-Beza, freshman Hailey Curtis said her dream is to someday be an innovator. She asked Curtis about using AI to help her develop a prototype for a new product.

Curtis, a business administration major from High Point, said she appreciated learning from Burrus the different ways to utilize AI instead of rejecting it.

“I know a lot of people hate AI and they’re against it, but I just took from him that you can use AI to be great, and you can jump ahead of everybody else,” Curtis said. “Instead of competing, do something that not everyone else is doing.”