Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
  • In Person

Is AI Checkmate for Humanity? Or Might It Just Help Save Us?

Note: This is a past event, additional resources may be available below.

Fri Jul 24, 2026

Date

Fri Jul 24, 2026
1:30pm – 3:00pm MDT

Location

Paepcke Auditorium
1000 N. Third Street
Aspen, CO

Contact

    [email protected]
    970.544.7970

Hosts

  1. Aspen Community Programs

Panel Discussion and Book Signing
Is AI Checkmate for Humanity? Or Might It Just Help Save Us?
Presented in collaboration with the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Artificial intelligence is advancing at breathtaking speed. This speed is increasingly raising profound concerns about jobs, privacy, security, misinformation, and even humanity’s future. But AI also offers extraordinary opportunities to cure disease, accelerate scientific discovery, protect the environment, expand human creativity, and help us better see and understand ourselves. So which future will we choose? Join entrepreneur and author Brett Hurt and futurist and bestselling author Jamie Metzl for a wide-ranging conversation moderated by Chadia El Meouchi, exploring one of the defining questions of our time. All three panelists are Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellows, bringing to the discussion a shared commitment to values-based leadership in addressing society’s most pressing challenges.
Paepcke Auditorium, doors at 1:00 pm

Registration
This event is free and open to the public. Please click here to register.

Parking
Parking is very limited. Please carpool, walk, bike, or ride RFTA.

 

Brett Hurt is a serial tech entrepreneur, investor, and a USA TODAY best-selling author. Most recently, he was the CEO and co-founder of data.world, the world’s leading data catalog platform, acquired by ServiceNow in 2025. Previously, Brett founded Bazaarvoice ($1B IPO on NASDAQ) and Coremetrics, which was acquired by IBM for $300M. Alongside his wife Debra, he co-leads Hurt Family Investments (HFI), backing more than 150 startups, 50+ venture funds, and a wide range of philanthropic initiatives. Named Austin’s Best CEO (Legacy Award) and an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow, Brett has been building technology since the age of seven. Love Conquers Fear is Brett’s new holding company—an expression of how he’s thinking about his highest utility over the next decade, and how he can influence the confluence of technology, consciousness, and courage to help humanity reach the Age of Abundance for All.

 

Jamie Metzl is a leading technology and healthcare futurist and Founder and Chair of the global social movement. OneShared.World. He is also an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow, Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, a faculty member of NextMed Health, and a Singularity University expert. In 2019, he was appointed to the World Health Organization expert advisory committee on human genome editing. Jamie is the author of international bestsellers, Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform Our Lives, Work, and World, Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity, which has been translated into 12 languages, and the genetics sci-fi thrillers Genesis Code and Eternal Sonata. A prominent media commentator, his syndicated columns and other writing in science, technology, and global affairs are featured regularly in publications around the world. He previously served in the U.S. National Security Council, State Department, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with the United Nations in Cambodia, and sits on advisory boards for multiple biotechnology companies and not-for-profit organizations. He also helped establish and serves as Special Strategist for the WisdomTree BioRevolution Exchange Traded Fund (ticker: WDNA). Jamie holds a Ph.D. from Oxford, a law degree from Harvard, and an undergraduate degree from Brown and is an avid ironman triathlete and ultramarathon runner. He lives in New York City.

 

Chadia El Meouchi Naoum is managing partner of Badri and Salim El Meouchi Law Firm, a leading regional law firm in the Middle East, and is a member of the New York Bar. Chadia has been recognized by Financial News as amongst the top 50 Most Influential Women in Middle East Finance, by International Financial Law Review IFLR Women Leaders Top 300 global, and as leading corporate and commercial lawyer by Chambers Global Guide for Leading Lawyers since 2004. Chadia is visiting professor at: University Panthéon – Assas Paris II, Paris – France, American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University. Chadia is co-founder of ed-tech startup, LeapLearner. Chadia is also a co-founder and board member of various NGOs and institutions. Chadia has a Master of Laws from Georgetown University (Washington, DC), a BCom from Concordia University, a BCivLaw at the University of Montreal, a post-graduate diploma in Oil & Gas law from Robert Gordon University, an Islamic Finance Qualification from the UK SII and ESA. Chadia is the co-founder of Middle East Leadership Initiative, a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and of Aspen Global Leadership Network, the Aspen Corps of Moderators, and the Aspen Leadership committee.

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