Agenda

REGISTRATION OPENS

At what point do cyborgs, genetically-engineered humans and upgraded superhumans cease to be human, and become a new species or even a completely new kind of entity?

SPEAKER:

Yuval Noah Harari, historian and author of Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

A fireside chat with Giuseppe Sala, mayor of Milan.

How do we ensure a sense of community in an advanced society? As the nature of work and play evolve, how will cities and other community centers evolve to meet the needs of residents whose lives follow very different patterns—and what role do civic leaders play in ensuring that citizens feel more connected and less isolated?

SPEAKERS:

Chloe Macintosh, chief creative officer, Soho House, and cofounder, Made.com

Julie Rice, cofounder, SoulCycle and partner, WeWork

Ben Schwerin, vice president of partnerships, Snap Inc. 

Stephanie Mehta will speak with chef Massimo Bottura about innovation, sustainability, and philanthropy.

NETWORKING LUNCH AND TIME TO EXPERIENCE SENSORIUM

Increasingly, artificial intelligence is being deployed to allow companies to understand and explore intimacy, feelings, beliefs, and desire—soft skills that go beyond rote predictive analytics. How can companies deploy artificial intelligence to deepen the personal touch and the emotional connection with clients and customers? How do we match this intimacy with privacy and the protection it demands?

SPEAKERS:

Julian Birkinshaw, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School

Rudy Cline-Thomas, founder and managing partner, Mastry

Natalie Massenet, cofounder, Imaginary Ventures; non-executive chair, Farfetch; and founder, Net-a-Porter

In “A Cyborg Manifesto,” essayist Donna Haraway argued that the “cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world . . . it is resolutely committed to partiality, irony, intimacy, and perversity. It is oppositional, utopian, and completely without innocence.” But can the highly evolved and superior machine of Haraway’s manifesto ever truly materialize?

SPEAKERS:

Imran Chaudhri, cofounder, Hu.ma.ne

Michael Jones, Director of Research, Salesforce

With Shanelle Gabriel

Will technologies such as AI make the world flatter, or will automation and smart machines exacerbate inequalities between the emerging and developed worlds? Dr. Jim Yong Kim, vice chairman of Global Infrastructure Fund and former president of the World Bank, shares his perspectives.

GENERATION AI: HOW THE FIRST DIGITAL NATIVES SEE THE WORLD

Young people born after 1995 are unlike any generation that has come before them: They’ve grown up fully immersed in the internet, mobile technology, robotics, and predictive analytics. But they are also stubbornly independent: Machines won’t necessarily tell them what to wear, buy, or watch, or how to think. Our panel explores how generation AI looks at the world, and how it will change it.

SPEAKERS:

Bilal Daaou, student and activist

Sophia Dominguez, founder and CEO, Svrf

Sheel Tyle, founder and CEO, Amplo

Fast Company editor-in-chief Stephanie Mehta will set the stage for the day to come.

The idea of a “bionic man,” popularized by the 1970s American television show, is no longer the stuff of fiction. Engineers and biologists are collaborating to develop technologies to supplement and even supplant human functions. How do these scientific miracles make the leap from computer code to genetic code, and what are the societal and ethical implications?

SPEAKERS:

Moran Cerf, neuroscientist and business professor at the Kellogg School of Management and the neuroscience program at Northwestern University

Riccardo Sabatini, scientist and entrepreneur

The dawn of superintelligence will also mean the dawn of new opportunities for humans to invent and reinvent themselves online. Vast computing power will enable—and encourage—people to create and deploy multiple versions of themselves into the virtual world. What does this new form of diversity foretell for meaningful human connection and sense of community?

SPEAKERS

Kevin Abosch, artist, I AM A COIN

Martine Jarlgaard, artist, Meet Yourself

Akash Nigam, CEO, Genies

The actor, musician, and prolific investor shares his outlook.

Gucci President and CEO Marco Bizzarri, and Alec Ross, author and visiting professor at King’s College London, explore the ways superintelligent machines will shape creative industries and push business and society in new and unexpected directions.

Technology is dramatically expanding the way artists tell stories, unleashing incredible creativity and bringing new dimension to art. The panel will explore these new forms of creativity, what it means for the way humans need to study and experience art, and what these new forms of storytelling will mean as they proliferate into fields such as education, marketing, and beyond.

SPEAKERS:

Samuel “Blitz” Bazawule, filmmaker and musician

Jessica Brillhart, founder, Vrai Pictures and director of the Mixed Reality Lab, University of Southern California

Dustin Yellin, artist and founder, Pioneer Works

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE: SEEDING THE NEXT WAVE OF SMART STARTUPS

How best to nurture companies born at the dawn of superintelligence, and arm them with tools to become the next Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent, and Amazon—or disrupt those giants?

SPEAKERS:

Ben Blume, principal, Atomico 

Ari Helgason, principal, Index Ventures

Timothy O’Connell, senior partner and head of global business & open innovation, H-Farm

Kimmy Scotti, founding partner, 8VC

 

Can man, machine, and nature coexist and inform one another? Artificial intelligence already is being deployed to help scientists track and reverse changes to the ecosystem. Will these smart machines develop an organic affinity for preserving earth and its inhabitants?

SPEAKERS:

Darren Aronofsky, filmmaker and screenwriter

David de Rothschild, explorer and environmentalist, The Lost Explorer LLC

Africa Flores-Anderson, NASA-SERVIR Amazonia Science coordination lead and Land Cover and Ecosystem Theme lead, Earth Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville