Two-time Republican presidential candidate and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich spoke on socially responsible innovation at the Memorial Union Wednesday.

The lecture was held in the Great Hall, in a “fireside chat” format between Kasich and Karen Kedrowki, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. It featured a discussion on artificial intelligence, political divisiveness, infrastructure issues and humility.

Kasich defined socially responsible innovation, which involved a discussion about the benefits and downsides of artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and experimental surgeries. The former Ohio governor told the audience he believes innovation should be approached with humility to lower the risks of the cons.

“We are creative people,” Kasich said. “The Lord has instilled in us the need to go and create and do and innovate, but we cannot do it without having humility.”

Kasich said humility is something that should always be sought after, especially in innovation.

“When we are humble in the way we approach anything, particularly innovation, we begin to spot those things that hold us back and those things that could result in some negative impact on society,” Kasich said.

Kedrowski asked Kasich about what innovations can strengthen democracy and Kasich answered by discussing voting machines and the concerns of Americans about the security of voting.

“I have confidence that voting is secure,” Kasich said. “There’s probably people here that don’t. I do… I’ve seen it, seen the way it worked.”

Among discussions about humility, another common theme of the lecture was the phenomenon of the United States as an “I-Culture” instead of a “We-Culture.” Kasich said this is something he encourages people to forget in public discourse and for people to “leave their silos.”

“All of us, as citizens, have the responsibility to find the truth, even if we happen to find the truth and we don’t like it,” Kasich said. “What happens is people get into their own silos… too many people segregate themselves as to where they heard the news.”

The 2016 Republican presidential candidate also commented on the recent bridge collapse in Baltimore after he had a discussion with an Iowa State class Wednesday morning at the Student Innovation Center.

“The ability of these young people who are innovators, social innovators, developing better alloys to build bridges and highways… they have a big responsibility, but they also have to face questions of ethics,” Kasich said. “Was that bridge properly inspected? Was it built the right way? Were the public officials, both in the government and elected officials, did they do their job? There’s a lot of responsibility we have for one another.”

After talking with Kedrowski, Kasich answered questions from the audience.

“How can we as a country promote innovation and education while public institutions like Iowa State and Ohio State are raising their tuition year after year, and pushing people out who can’t afford it?” an Iowa State student asked.

Kasich suggested that high school students seek out pre-college programs and consider community colleges to get their general education credits. He also said colleges need to look into their costs to make college affordable if they want to compete with growing technologies like artificial intelligence that will only require “certificate programs”.

“Colleges have to be very concerned about the fact that they are meeting the needs of students, they’re providing something that [students] can’t get through these certificate programs,” Kasich said. “[They need] to make sure that their sticker price doesn’t get too high. So, there are answers to this.”

In an interview with the Daily, Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen commented on Kasich’s answer to this question and said “it’s important” to recognize that Iowa State is one of the “lowest tuition costs of our peer universities.”

“We also know that it’s expensive to go to college, so we work hard to raise funds for scholarships for our students and encourage our students to always be talking to the individuals in their college about what scholarships are available,” Wintersteen said.

Wintersteen also encouraged students to seek out on-campus employment to offset tuition costs.

“He really did a good job of emphasizing the need for people who are working to find out what’s true and how to solve problems,” Alex Tuckness, department of political science chair, said in an interview with the Daily. “If we can move beyond just partisan posturing and work together to solve problems, I think there’s a lot of good things the United States will be able to do.”

In an interview with the Daily, Kasich provided a message to students preparing to vote in November.

“Vote,” Kasich said. “Don’t sit out the process, and check it all out.”

Kasich said he encourages students to educate themselves on all sides of the political spectrum and to make a well-educated vote in November.