Our 2023 Season: The Great Progression
A gathering of innovators from a range of networks at ground zero in San Francisco to help answer some of the most critically important questions of our time
In the spring of 2023 Generative AI took off and The AI Age began. Our strategic foresight firm Reinvent Futures immediately sensed the importance of this historic moment and set out to gather the top minds in Silicon Valley, San Francisco’s Cerebral Valley and the region in a series of elite events that we initially called The Great Progression.
We held these Meeting of the Minds in the iconic Ferry Building to collectively begin to make sense of what was happening and figure out the new way forward. We then rolled into more like a party.
These events quickly attracted top leaders from the tech and innovation economy and many related fields. We had well-known entrepreneurs and business leaders, up-and-coming Gen AI founders and builders, academics, investors, government officials and many journalists covering us too.
You can learn more below about what we accomplished in 2023 and what we expect to do with the 2024 season now called The AI Age Begins. The best way to understand this extraordinary event and media series is to simply watch the 5-minute video above.
The 2024 Season: The AI Age Begins
The Great Progression season in 2023 laid the foundations of the series by answering some fundamental questions about Gen AI focused on the real implications, positive possibilities & actual risks.
The 2024 season The AI Age Begins will explore one overarching question involving artificial intelligence that touches many if not all fields: “Are we thinking big enough?”
If AI is leading to a step change in human capabilities and augmenting us with new superpowers, then what should we be doing at this juncture in history?
Each of our six big events will look at a a different field like healthcare or climate tech that has the possibility to be transformed by the impact of AI in the years ahead.
Each event will try to answer the a version of the question: “How can AI supercharge great progress in [field x].”
Our Events: Deep Learning & New Connections
Our strategic partner in the series is Shack15, a relatively new private club created for early-stage founders and technologists in the top floor of the Ferry Building. The stunning space has become one of the hubs for Gen AI technologists, providing the perfect atmosphere to host a high-end convening.
Each evening explores a critical question related to Generative AI where we hear from a dozen hand-picked thought leaders who give short 5-minute talks like the adjacent video of Greg Corrado, the cofounder of Google Brain.
We then engage the audience in some dialogue before we break into networking, complete with a DJ, food and drink. Each event maxes out with 250 people in attendance, all of whom are innovators in their own right and bring valuable insights into the mix.
Our Media: From Essays to Videos
The event’s formal program is recorded and we then create various media content, including an essay written by our host and curator Peter Leyden that synthesizes what we learned and can be shared.
Anyone can access all our essays, extended quotes, and video from the series through The Great Progression series on Substack. (This written series will continue to publish the new season under the same name since we have many followers in that world. The video can also be watched by anyone via our Reinvent Futures YouTube channel.
The first three events in 2023 focused on the key questions surrounding the arrival of Generative AI and are foundational to the ongoing series. What are the real implications of Gen AI? What are the positive possibilities of Gen AI? And What are the actual risks of Gen AI? See Substack for more.
Coverage from Top Journalists
Each gathering so far has brought out journalists who wanted to hear our cutting edge conversations with many of the top minds in the tech and innovation world today.
The journalists represented some of the leading companies in the business including The New Yorker, Forbes, Bloomberg, Axios, Reuters, among others.
Businessweek even featured our first gathering at the top of the cover story in a special Tech Issue in the June magazine (see adjacent photo). As Brad Stone, Bloomberg’s Head of Global Technology Coverage, wrote to start the piece:
“In late May, 300 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, journalists and assorted self-described thought leaders crammed into Shack15, a stylish social club on the second floor of San Francisco’s Ferry Building, where most spoke in soaring terms about what they saw as the next gold rush.
The gathering, dubbed a “Generative AI Meeting of the Minds,” would’ve been unthinkable during the pandemic and improbable earlier this year, when the city’s main obsessions often seemed to be car break-ins and retail store closures. The night had the feel of a religious revival.
“Something is happening, something is cracking open,” said the evening’s host, futurist writer Peter Leyden, in the first of many upbeat speeches. Just as everyone “was talking about the demise of San Francisco, how everyone is leaving the Bay Area, how no one wants to live in California, how we are in doom loops—that’s exactly the time you know the place is right about to burst open in reinvention,” Leyden said to applause.
The speech, the whole event, captured the feeling coursing through tech circles these days: Silicon Valley is back.”
Opportunity for Sponsors in 2024
We have secured a core partner for the next season of six gatherings to be held through 2024 which will be revealed soon. We’re now figuring out the mix of sponsors who would want to participate and help support the series before the expected launch in February 2024.
We are looking for organizations that can bring not only their resources but their networks to the table. Potential sponsors can contact Joe Boggio, Managing Director for Reinvent Futures, through email.
If you are interested in attending these invite-only events as a participant or speaker, tell us about yourself through our contact page.