AI Super Thinker
Setup
One of the architects of artificial intelligence, now the CEO of Microsoft AI, shares what he sees ahead for AI — and for humanity — as we stand at this digital precipice.
- 2024 Festival
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Technology
![Healthy Communication: How Truth Can Overpower Disinformation](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/02174c3f-94a0-4660-a498-2e3187fbc3d9/53810359739_2d413e9e55_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=1197%2C0%2C2070%2C3101&w=400)
From the measles vaccine to the origins of COVID, the speed at which disinformation spreads and the harms it can do have become painfully familiar. Communicators are fighting...
![Building Bonds Across Generations](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/3df70317-4595-4173-b1c1-9ac120044e2f/53810018186_30ab0e06f4_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C245%2C4651%2C2618&w=400)
Contemporary American society is deeply age segregated. Youth spend most of their time in school or with peers and older people head to senior centers and retirement communiti...
![Getting Candid About Mental Health: Senator John Fetterman Opens Up](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5dc1631c-435f-4b49-b6f5-56666e816b22/53808552448_98231ab3fa_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C345%2C5773%2C3240&w=400)
John Fetterman was campaigning for the US Senate when he suffered a near-fatal stroke. Fortunate that a visiting physician was on duty in a nearby rural hospital, Fetterman su...
![Venture Capital Places Its Bets](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ef07560c-cd05-4a9c-b7eb-af193e49238d/53805870517_ac14745b6f_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=776%2C886%2C4492%2C2520&w=400)
The healthcare investments venture capitalists make often signal where the entire medical enterprise is headed. Their resources are not unlimited, so decisions about where the...
![Taking on Autoimmune Diseases—with Worms!](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/dfc94a20-9491-4766-aec0-4bdc74ef6de1/53806714423_d9c12b256c_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=1609%2C0%2C2418%2C3627&w=400)
In less-developed countries, parasitic roundworms can colonize the gut and cause significant intestinal problems. But autoimmune diseases, the devastating package of disorders...
![Advancing Medicine Through Cutting-Edge Investments](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/bfe3d84d-af1f-49c0-847d-490fe64f6d9d/53806505027_4b38f76c3c_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=238%2C0%2C4132%2C2322&w=400)
At the edge of innovation, government initiatives like the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) are pursuing moonshots, venture capitalists are looking for im...
![In Conversation with CRISPR Pioneer Jennifer Doudna](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e06f2d05-3842-45df-a7de-c5aee46ead67/53807864915_33f9fd0af3_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C173%2C4651%2C2618&w=400)
Barely a dozen years ago, Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues published a paper in Science about CRISPR, the pioneering gene-editing technique that thrilled the scientific comm...
![CRISPR 2.0, the Next Generation](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/664fa430-dd44-42c1-9e79-96c5a63c1fc0/53807106830_a6524a26eb_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C5800%2C3264&w=400)
History was made this year when the first FDA-approved CRISPR-based gene editing therapy became available to patients, designed to cure sickle cell anemia. That represents gr...
![Mental Health Matters](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d5c21063-2d3c-4924-bfd8-5fa27f606309/53806482912_f582492ae7_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=4682%2C0%2C2871%2C4302&w=400)
Mental health crises are plaguing Americans. Despite parity mandates that require mental health services to be reimbursed like any other medical service, clinician shortages,...
![Inside the Mind of a Sociopath](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/47d2bc3e-5f2c-4477-8538-883a08f9b3cf/53807424194_3c3a5b17c1_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C1337%2C3912%2C2211&w=400)
Mental health professionals consider sociopathy to be a personality disorder characterized by generalized apathy and difficulty internalizing and/or connecting to the learned...
![Health Fellow Spotlight: Georgina Dukes-Harris](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ee401bac-a60e-4b5e-858c-d6d12bb88108/SpotlightBlogHeroImage.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=653%2C0%2C901%2C900&w=400)
Meet Georgina Dukes-Harris, a 2024 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow and the Founder of Swishvo. Having experienced critical gaps in maternal healthcare firsthand, she's on a mission...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 10](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/2ad83080-e614-4cdd-9be0-ad546b8e2b23/AIFStockHeroImages10.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ab287a&q=80&rect=2144%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 10](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/2ad83080-e614-4cdd-9be0-ad546b8e2b23/AIFStockHeroImages10.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2144%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
It doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to put the generative artificial intelligence genie back in the bottle. But we might still be able to prevent some potential damage...
![stock hero](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9373734c-74ff-45e0-ac39-c5528e6476d5/GettyImages-177418652.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ab287a&q=80&rect=396%2C0%2C2131%2C2131&w=400)
![stock hero](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9373734c-74ff-45e0-ac39-c5528e6476d5/GettyImages-177418652.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=396%2C0%2C2131%2C2131&w=400)
Scientists could actually be close to being able to decode animal communication and figure out what animals are saying to each other. And more astonishingly, we might even fin...
![Designing for Better Health](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/526cabd9-2786-49ad-8c2a-b19fecdedea1/Screenshot2023-09-06at2.50.36PM.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C868%2C578&w=400)
Whether expressed through systems that are easy to navigate, devices that are friendly to their users, and spaces that are pleasing to the eye, thoughtful design can break dow...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 3](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8dc1ff03-c27c-4082-b1af-3643738f1991/AIFStockHeroImages3.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ac473e&q=80&rect=1783%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 3](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8dc1ff03-c27c-4082-b1af-3643738f1991/AIFStockHeroImages3.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1783%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Artificial intelligence is making world-changing advances every day. But these powerful tools can be used for malicious and nefarious purposes just as easily as they can be us...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 11](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/2bece249-26aa-4d54-ad8a-c4a41dadfd09/AIFStockHeroImages11.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=8a5f4e&q=80&rect=455%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 11](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/2bece249-26aa-4d54-ad8a-c4a41dadfd09/AIFStockHeroImages11.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=455%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
A technological future where our brain waves could be monitored and our thoughts decoded and analyzed — sometimes against our will — is not as far away as we think. But our ex...
![Bold Goals: The Biomedical Science of Tomorrow](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/1be7dd82-0714-47cd-bcdb-841d9609c957/Screenshot2023-09-06at10.36.15AM.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=596%2C0%2C777%2C518&w=400)
Setting audacious goals helps to redefine what is achievable in health, medicine, and science. As we deepen understanding of the human genome, unravel the mysteries of the bra...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 17](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/12d2b9fc-010a-4e6c-89e2-40ad6e1cf16d/AIFStockHeroImages17.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=4b7780&q=80&rect=1162%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 17](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/12d2b9fc-010a-4e6c-89e2-40ad6e1cf16d/AIFStockHeroImages17.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1162%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Artificial intelligence is clearly going to change our lives in multiple ways. But it’s not yet obvious exactly how, and what the impacts will be. We can predict that certain...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 15](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/fdd4fce3-8f25-434e-bc38-703de78f0d7d/AIFStockHeroImages15.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=4b7780&q=80&rect=2395%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 15](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/fdd4fce3-8f25-434e-bc38-703de78f0d7d/AIFStockHeroImages15.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2395%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
When Sal Khan created Khan Academy, he was trying to scale up the successful experiences he’d had tutoring his cousins one-on-one in math. He saw how effective it could be for...
![The Edge of Intelligence](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ca137f38-2dfa-453b-ab87-63f68386aa36/AIFStockHeroImages7.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=495%2C0%2C5065%2C3375&w=400)
Everywhere you look, there’s a headline about the power of artificial intelligence and how it will impact our lives in ways we have not yet imagined. From advancing medicine t...