Sridhar Vembu Has This AI Warning For Students

Sridhar Vembu, Zoho founder, has been pretty vocal against artificial intelligence and how it is creeping into our lives. And now, reacting to a report by UC Berkeley talking about rising failure rates in computer science courses, Vembu has stated that students who depend heavily on AI may end up weakening the skills they are trying to develop. The comments of Zoho founder came at a time when AI tools like Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT are becoming increasing common in study routines and classrooms. These platforms can offer instant answers and explanations, and Vembu says that students should first focus on building strong fundamentals before relying on these models for answers. He said, 'AI can make you smarter faster, but AI can also make you dumber

faster.' Furthermore, Vembu said he would not encourage AI adoption at an early stage, especially in schools and colleges, until students' basics are clear. His remarks came following a report by The Daily Californian, citing that the unusually high failure rates have been witnessed in computer science courses at UC Berkeley during the Spring 2026 semester. As per the report, 35.3 per cent of students in CS 10 and 10.6 per cent of students in CS 61A scored failing grades.How To Use Gemini Avatar To Generate AI Videos Of Yourself: Step-By-Step Guide Vembu also cited a previous research citing that AI can improve short-term performance, but it may hurt long term learning of the masses. Apart from that, he also said that the students using AI often become dependent on it instead of developing a genuine understanding of the subject. According to Vembu, the safest career paths may not be the highest paying ones considering the current scenario created by AI. He has stated that activities like classical music, serving as temple priests, and protecting forests could never be affected by AI.