Tom Gruber

“Tom is amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime special person I feel lucky to have met. He’s a thought leader, “super” polymath, inventor and entrepreneur, with heart and intellect in equal measure. He is always insightful on how things were, how they are now, and how they could be — and should be. I have interviewed him a number of times and always learn profound things. Tom is an A+ public speaker, simply the best in any situation, from keynotes to fireside chats to one-on-on interactions. I have had him speak on humanistic AI, ethics and technology, the impact of AI on society, and advice to start-ups and investors. He puts everyone at ease, and we all come away learning more.”

“Tom Gruber is the rare practitioner who can lucidly explain how things work — and what they mean for us. His understanding of the social impacts of digital innovation is built from the ground up and he brings to the stage an unusual insight into A.I. and a strong sense of how designers and engineers can change digital systems to better confront the ethical challenges that this new age poses. A passionate and profound observer of digital life, Tom is in the first rank of public speakers on emerging technologies and how humans can manage them for maximum benefit.”

“I met Tom Gruber in 2008, long before the current wave of commercial artificial intelligence transformed Silicon Valley. At the time I was struck by the fact that he was both a researcher in the field of AI and someone with a close connection to the work of Doug Engelbart who had coined the term Intelligence Augmentation, or IA. Engelbart’s philosophy was based on extending rather than replacing the human with computer systems. Tom went on to help design Siri, an important example of what he describes as humanistic AI, an effort to deploy AI techniques in the context of shared human values. His perspective is even more vital today when AI technologies are being widely deployed by both corporations and governments.”