The development of thinking machines is an adventure as bold and ambitious as any humans have attempted. Everyday millions of people already rely on it as an indispensable part of their daily lives, even you. Without AI, Google wouldn’t have your answers, your smartphone would just be a phone, and the logistics operations of companies would stagnate. 

But how will AI change our society in the next century? Will it create the utopia we hope for, or will our future end up as the dystopian world of Blade Runner? Somewhere in between? 

Join the Weissman Foundry, from 3-5:00pm on April 7th, for an exploration of AI! You’ll learn from industry leaders how they use AI in their daily lives, engage with others in conversation, and then get a chance to take a sneak peek at some of the leading AI platforms produced for the general community including DALL-E-2 and ChatGPT. 

As the Focus of this event is to get the community involved in playing with AI, our rough schedule will be as follows:

• 3:00pm - Registration

• 3:15pm - Introduction to AI

• 3:30pm - Panel Discussion

• 4:00pm - Open Studio: Experience AI

• 5:30pm - Event Close

This Spring, we’re excited to announce that our panelists include thought leaders in the field of AI including:

Mike Gradinetti

Mike has been continuously active in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship, human-centric design and digital marketing since earning his Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree. He went on to earn his MBA degree with distinction at Yale. He began his career in Silicon Valley, and has spent his entire career in the world’s leading innovation clusters of Silicon Valley / San Francisco, Boston / Cambridge, Austin, TX and Tel Aviv, Israel. He’s a successful serial tech entrepreneur, multi-award winning professor, innovation consultant, angel investor, board member, hackathon & design sprint leader, popular keynote speaker, podcast author, and in-demand startup mentor. Mike joins us as the moderator for this event.

Dan Von Kohorn

Dan builds and invests in tech companies. He loves the impact that is possible with software, and enjoys learning and working with great people in pursuit of important missions.

Dan started his career at JP Morgan Asset Management, and has worked on management of more than $4.3B over a career in investment management and venture capital, including 7 years as portfolio manager of a computational commodity fund, 20 years as Director of Technology Investments for Mediatech Capital, and 10 years in VC.

At the same time, Dan founded companies or worked with early founding teams 14 times, and participated in 35 tech startups resulting in 10 exits (so far) totaling $900m+ in enterprise value.

Dan has been working in Web3 since 2016, built a blockchain oracle company in partnership with ConsenSys, founded the Oracle Working Group at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and contributed to the Specification for Off-Chain Trusted Compute. Previously, he focused on machine learning and SaaS with a focus in finance, founded the New England AI meetup that grew to 2500+ members, and contributed to the US Secret Service NY Electronic Crimes Task Force [1][2].

He enjoys working with startups, co-founded a Boston angel investor group in 2006, Beta Fund in 2012, and Broom Ventures in 2019. He looks for exceptional teams, leadership, and culture in the companies he works with.

Ruth Gilleran

Ruth Gilleran brings over 20 years of industry experience to the classroom including 16 years in the software and 5 years in the consumer goods industry. Since joining Babson in 2001, Ms. Gilleran has shown tremendous versatility by teaching in the college’s Undergraduate, One Year MBA, Fast Track MBA, Masters of Accounting, and Executive Education programs. Currently, Ms. Gilleran teaches courses in information management studies, general business and entrepreneurship. Within the area of Information Technology Management, Ms. Gilleran's areas of expertise are Social Business, Business Intelligence, Software Project Management, and Systems Design and Implementation. Most recently, she has been involved in delivering virtual seminars on business intelligence, end-to-end computing, social business, and systems for entrepreneurs.

Jason Snellings

Jason Snellings is an Instructional Technologist and Instructional Designer, working with Faculty, Students, and Staff in the Academic Technology Innovation Center at Babson College. In his daily work, he helps make the design and delivery of any course dynamic, engaging, and current. His experience in both the medical fields and in designing instructional tools can help shed some light on how AI will change these fields going forward.

Muya Guoji

Muya Guoji serves as the founder and president of the Babson Artificial Intelligence Club. With a keen interest in machine learning algorithms, AI business applications, and AI ethics, Muya has established the AI club to provide Babson students with a platform to delve into the rapidly evolving field of AI. In addition, Muya holds the position of vice president in Babson's on-campus living organization, CODE, an organization that strives to integrate entrepreneurship and technology, and foster a collaborative environment for students to thrive in both domains. In this event, Muya will partially represent the student body's perspective.