Coding is dead, computer science is not: UW’s Ed Lazowska on AI, retirement, and why he’s not done yet
GeekWire
GeekWire
4.4 • 116 Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
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Summary
Longtime University of Washington computer science professor Ed Lazowska — newly retired at 75 after nearly a half-century on the faculty — joins us to discuss the evolution of computer science, how AI is changing what and how students learn, why specialization is rising, the role of universities in Seattle’s tech economy, and what he plans to tackle next across teaching, advising, and policy.
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With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This Geekwire podcast is brought to you by BECU. Stay tuned to the break as Brian Westbrook |
| 0:06.0 | interviews BECU's Stacey Black for today's money hack about financial strategies for navigating |
| 0:12.5 | unexpected career change. For more money hacks, check out geekwire.com slash BECU. |
| 0:26.1 | The power of being at a university is the people you educate and send off into the world. |
| 0:30.7 | In the old days, you'd get a magazine and you'd get this little card in there with a checkbox and you'd check what your occupation was. |
| 0:32.7 | I forgot this, to send it off and get a free something or other. |
| 0:35.5 | I would check researcher. |
| 0:37.8 | Not educator or professor. |
| 0:39.3 | It took me a couple of years to start checking teacher or educator. |
| 0:43.5 | And I realized that that's why I was there. |
| 0:45.9 | I can send people out that change the world. |
| 1:00.7 | How? How is AI reshaping computer science education? |
| 1:06.5 | And what does the future look like for students entering tech as automation accelerates the industry? |
| 1:10.0 | Those are just some of the questions we'll tackle this week with our special guest. |
| 1:12.1 | I'm Geekwire co-founder Todd Bishop.. I'm Geekwire co-founder Todd Bishop. |
| 1:13.9 | And I'm Geekwire co-founder John Cook. |
| 1:15.6 | Welcome to the Geekwire podcast, everybody. |
| 1:20.6 | We are here this week with Ed Lazowska, a longtime professor at the University of Washington Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, a driving force in computer science, |
| 1:25.3 | tech policy, and education for nearly five decades. Ed recently |
| 1:29.4 | retired after 48 years on the University of Washington faculty. We'll talk about the impact of AI |
| 1:34.4 | on computer science education, the changing tech job market, and will reflect on his career and |
| 1:39.5 | legacy and the changes he's seen. And what's coming next for the field? Ed, it's great to see you. Oh, great to be here. And actually, I don't retire until August 1st, so you're catching me in my final week. Okay, perfect. By the time this airs. So you're still held responsible for anything you say. My goal in retirement is to feel less responsible as opposed to disappear completely. Well, why don't you go out in a ball of flames on this podcast? |
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