Nanjing University professor's "CS students without tokens should drop out" sparks debate
APPSO · wechat · 2026-09-06
Nanjing University CS professor Jiang Yanyan's slide reading "CS students without tokens should drop out immediately" went viral. His point: tokens are becoming a real resource, and AI access tied to money creates a new usage gap—Harvard and Middlebury surveys show most undergrads use free AI tiers, with significantly lower usage and trust than paying peers.
The article debates who should pay: students self-funding widens inequality, while bulk university procurement could create a new inter-school divide; Jiang considered reimbursing students but enrollment exceeded expectations. It criticizes universities for merely renaming majors (embodied AI, AI+X) while dodging deeper equity questions. Full course recordings are on Bilibili.
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