The AI Guys

Chris Bishop and David Houle first met at the 50th anniversary conference of the World Future Society in Washington, D.C in July 2016 where they were both presenting. This annual event provides a unique forum for prominent futurists and thought leaders to discuss and explore various trends driving the transformation of society, culture and business. David, as futurist in residence at the Ringling College of Art + Design had in years past, given numerous talks at a highly-regarded lecture series in Sarasota sponsored by the Ringling College Lifelong Learning Academy called Einstein’s Circle. When David reached out to the Director and proposed that he and Chris might share a talk on the topic of “Artificial Intelligence: Past, Present and Future”, she jumped at the idea.

In early February 2017, they delivered a 90 minute session to a packed house of over 200 people. The response was overwhelmingly positive and a lively Q&A followed the session. In addition, several people emailed them after the event with other questions.

This was the “ah-ha” moment for Chris and David. They realized that the conversation about AI and machine learning had become either too simplified or too technical and that there was no real middle ground being addressed, especially when it came to historical perspective. The other revelation was that people were very excited to learn more about artificial intelligence.

Several people both at the event and in follow-up conversations called them “the ai guys” which said it all.

David and Chris have committed to speaking to general business audiences about the opportunities and challenges associated with AI and machine learning. How to anticipate it. How to start to plan for it. How to better face the ways it will turn economies, the workplace, careers, markets and even our individual and collective identities upside down. AI will unquestionably be one of the most disruptive technologies ever invented.