Shared Futures

Artificial intelligence was once the stuff of science fiction. Now, AI plays a role in all aspects of our lives. It’s used to create art, find love, and remix your imagination.

On June 13, Shared Futures: The AI Forum brought together the cultural architects of our time—visionary artists, global tastemakers, community catalysts, and bold industry leaders—to explore how AI is reshaping the way we live, create, connect, and evolve. 

Co-hosted by Aspen Digital and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, this one-day festival goes into the heart of what it means to be human in an age of intelligent machines.

Relive the Festival

Want to revisit your favorite sessions, or perhaps you weren’t able to attend? The full suite of recordings are available online. Access our playlist on YouTube to re-watch sessions or view them for the first time, or click on session titles in the agenda below to access those recordings directly.

Our Agenda

The Big Picture

Opening

Baratunde Thurston, Co-Creator and Host, Life with Machines

Welcome

Vilas Dhar, President, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

Vivian Schiller, Vice President & Executive Director, Aspen Digital, The Aspen Institute

It’s More Real Than You Think

Extraordinary advances in AI are often lost amid the hype. This opening fireside chat will reveal what AI is capable of today and what to expect in the near term.

Ben Buchanan, Professor, Johns Hopkins University

Cecilia Kang, National Correspondent, New York Times (Moderator)

Lost in Translation No More

AI is only as inclusive as the data it’s built on, and right now, that data speaks in a narrow set of languages. Through Mozilla’s Common Voice, the largest crowdsourced speech dataset, Syed shows how a community-led data initiative advances ethical AI and the public good.

Nabiha Syed, Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation

Who Cares What You Think?

Public input is the cornerstone of a representative democracy – but understanding citizens’ views at scale is a challenge. A dynamic partnership in Bowling Green, KY sheds light on a way forward.

Yasmin Green, CEO, Jigsaw (Google)

Creative Frontiers

Should AI Think Like Us?

A renowned pioneer at the intersection of AI, data, and art shares his vision.

Refik Anadol, Media Artist & Director, Refik Anadol Studio

Dreams on Screen

AI is reshaping the boundaries of documentary cinema, enabling the visualization of what was once invisible.

Nik Kleverov, Chief Creative Officer, Native Foreign

Pippa Lambert, Founder, Hellcat

Fred Grinstein, Co-Founder, Machine Cinema

Vivian Schiller, Vice President & Executive Director, Aspen Digital, The Aspen Institute (Moderator)

Through the Lens of Time

A National Geographic photographer turns the camera inward, using AI as a new lens to revisit our changing climate.

Aaron Huey, Photographer, National Geographic; Creative Director, Amplifier

Classical Regenerated

A performance and talk about the intersection of music and AI.

AyşeDeniz Gökçin, Concert Pianist/Composer, AI Music Producer

Building Blocks of Living Systems

Storytime with Robots

Minh Do, Co-Founder, Machine Cinema

From Earth to the Stars

AI is reshaping how we interpret our world, from mapping our brain to understanding the shape of the universe. Meet the scientists at the cutting edge.

Cecilia Garraffo, AI Astrophysicist, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian

Dan Hammer, Co-Founder, LGND

Anup Kaphle, Editor-in-Chief, Rest of World (Moderator)

Architecting the Future

AI has become a game-changer for building public spaces that enhance human well-being while protecting the environment and saving money.

Mike Haley, Senior Vice President of Research, Autodesk

Soul of the Machine

Love in the Time of AI

Can technology help find us a soulmate? With AI increasingly embedded in dating apps, we’ll talk about the benefits – and risks – of a machine mediating the most intimate parts of our lives.

Yoel Roth, Vice President of Trust & Safety, Match Group

Lisa Bonos, Silicon Valley Reporter, The Washington Post (Moderator)

Mourning & Memory

An exploration of grief, digital legacy, and how AI is reshaping our relationship with the afterlife.

Muhammad Ahmad, Professor, University of Washington

Dylan Thomas Doyle, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Northwestern University

Dar Vanderbeck, Vice President, Aspen Global Leadership Network (Moderator)

The Future is Ours to Build

New generations are growing up in a world where AI touches all aspects of their lives. Meet the young innovators working to shape it into something fairer, more inclusive, and built for the future they want to live in.

Kiara Nirghin, Co-Founder & CTO, Chima

Sneha Revanur, Founder & President, Encode

Mathilde Barge, Special Projects Analyst, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (Moderator)

The Divine & the Digital

How do our spiritual lives coexist with machines? Thought leaders from the three Abrahamic faiths help us understand how to think about AI, ethics, and religion.

Paolo Benanti, Professor, Gregorian University

Mona Hamdy, Managing Director, Anomaly

Yonah Schiller, Founder, Common Era

Kara Swisher, Host, On with Kara Swisher (Moderator)

Sharing the Future

Accelerate but Steer

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Co-Founder, HitRecord

Matthew Yglesias, Writer, Slow Boring

Closing Reflections

Baratunde Thurston, Co-Creator and Host, Life with Machines

Poetry Recital

Salome Agbaroji, 7th National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States

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