AI: ‘Laziness and stupidity’, our biggest risk
- Wits University
In remembering South Africa’s Grand Geek lies a legacy that shows us how we should think about and engage with artificial intelligence.
“Barry was very engaged and curious, deeply empathetic, very focused on solving problems, and in his quiet way, he was very challenging, intellectually rigorous, and thoroughly sceptical,” said Sir John Lazar, technology leader, investor, philanthropist and Wits alumnus, in presenting the 2025 Professor Barry Dwolatzky Memorial Lecture.
Prof. Barry, as he was affectionately called, had left a profound impact on all he met, and in his 50 years as a student, lecturer, researcher, innovator, mentor and visionary at Wits University.
He also lectured Lazar in computer science in the early 80s at Wits during a time of deep turmoil in South Africa. However, Lazar recalls he had a “wonderful education and found truly astounding grounding at Wits. Today it is still a wonderful, vibrant, top-class institution, and I’m proud of that.”
Lazar became President of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK in 2024, and earlier this year was knighted by Britain’s King Charles III for his services to engineering and technology.
‘Somewhere in the middle’
His lecture, titled: AI in Africa: Innovation under Constraints, focused on the divergent views in the AI debate: In one divergent, people on one end say AI is going to save humanity, make us more productive and happy, while on the other side of the spectrum, are people thinking "pure extinction and it is going to happen quite quickly. Then one end of another diversion is driven by social scientists and people in the humanities who say: ‘AI is just a stochastic parrot and BS generator’, and on the other side, people are saying artificial general intelligence will happen next week.”
Among all these perspectives lies a genuine opportunity in the coming years for Africa and Africans, with exciting prospects for the continent to leverage its innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. “Entrepreneurship is unbelievably important,” said Lazar, praising Prof. Barry's vision for an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at Wits that led to his appointment as the University's first Director of Innovation Strategy.
“These are skills which we have to teach young people today. African young people are already running multiple hustles at the same time, and doing it brilliantly. They need to be nurtured and supported.”
He said that Africa is the ‘young continent’, while every other continent is ageing. Looking into the future, it is very important for the world that Africa succeeds, 'and the world will thank us for that'.
The only way to do this, Lazar said, is to “join up. This is an African opportunity, and we really need to work together to maximise, and ‘join up’ ambitious thinking.”
‘Just be like Prof. Barry’
Lazar did, however, warn what he believes to be the biggest risk of AI: “A short circuit to laziness and stupidity”.
“We need to talk about how we teach people about AI, and we also need to be talking about attitudinal skills. As this revolution unfolds, the people who thrive, who benefit, who come through this are going to be ones who have developed a particular set of attitudinal skills.
“What are these attitudinal skills?” It’s the same list of qualities that Prof. Barry possessed:
Engaged & Curious
Empathetic
Problem-solving
Challenging
Rigorous
Skeptical
“We have to engage. We have to be curious. We have to hold on to our human qualities and our empathy. We have to very, very strongly be problem-solving. And most importantly, we have to be unbelievably, intellectually rigorous. We have to challenge them (AI) at every turn. We have to be sceptical. We have to engage with these tools on an everyday basis, particularly as we worry about the downside effects.”
“So, I guess, at the end of all of this, just be like Barry!” Lazar ended his talk.
Prof Barry’s legacy: Builder of bridges
Known as the ‘Grand Geek’ of digital innovation in South Africa, Prof. Barry was a passionate believer that young people have the creativity, energy, drive and reason to build a new South Africa, Africa and the world.
He dedicated 50 years of his life to Wits in various capacities, including as Emeritus Professor in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment; Founder and Director of the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE); and Founder of the Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, the University’s digital innovation hub located in Braamfontein.
Prof. Barry passed away less than a month after the Wits Innovation Centre (WIC) was launched in 2023.
"A centre he conceived and brought to life. I have no doubt that he would be immensely proud of how his vision has flourished over the past two years. Earlier this year, our first cohort of postgraduate diploma in innovation students graduated, and we awarded the inaugural David Fine Innovation Award,” said Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research & Innovation.
Dr David Fine, Wits alumnus and renowned entrepreneurial chemist who also attended the lecture online, generously donated R50 million to Wits in 2022 to establish the Angela and David Fine Chair in Innovation, which laid the groundwork for the establishment of the WIC.
The Wits Innovation Fund has also been established, and several spin-out companies are now in the pipeline. Read more about the WIC’s milestones.
"Barry was a colleague and dear friend’. He was a builder of bridges between disciplines, between people, between imagination and implementation. His quiet love, his passion, his unwavering insistence that things could and must be better, his endless optimism in the human spirit, is what we honour today”.
“He deeply, deeply believed in the potential of young people and in the importance of giving them room to lead, fail and fly,” Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor of Wits University said in paying tribute to Prof. Barry.
The Memorial Lecture is an annual event to celebrate Prof. Barry’s legacy and to build on his vision for the University to be an innovation leader where academics and students can use their knowledge to advance our community, city, country, continent and the globe. The inaugural Memorial Lecture was presented by Professor Solomon Assefa in 2024.
Biography of Sir John Lazar
Co-founder, Enza Capital | Chair, Raspberry Pi Foundation | President, Royal Academy of Engineering
John Lazar is a technology leader, investor, and philanthropist with a deep commitment to innovation in Africa and globally. He is Co-founder and General Partner at Enza Capital, a Nairobi-based firm backing tech-driven solutions across the continent, with investments in over 35 African companies. Since 2020, John has chaired the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which aims to empower young people through computing and Al. In 2024, Raspberry Pi Holdings listed on the London Stock Exchange, generating an endowment of nearly $800 million for the Foundation's global mission.
He became President of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2024, following years of leadership within the Academy and his long-standing support for African engineering innovators through the Africa Prize.
Previously, John was CEO and Chairman of Metaswitch Networks, a global leader in cloud communications software, acquired by Microsoft in 2020. He has also made over 40 angel investments and supported numerous tech start-ups in the UK and Africa. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds degrees from Oxford University (MSc in Computation and DPhil in History) and Wits University (BSc Hons in Computer Science).
He was awarded a CBE in 2016 and a Knighthood in 2025 for services to engineering and technology.