Program on Science, Technology and Society at Harvard

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The Future Must Be Human: A Town Hall on AI and Democracy

March 11, 2026, 7:30pm
Science Center Hall E

Abstract

Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, generative AI technologies have become an unmistakable part of the Harvard landscape. Yet the rapid normalization of AI in university life and beyond has occurred with little attention to big questions about what these developments mean—for the ways we want to think, the people we wish to be, and the societies we hope to inhabit. Why do people around the world accept projections from AI companies as inevitable, whether for their personal relationships or professional futures? How did a handful of billionaires in Silicon Valley come to define our ideas of progress and social well-being around the development of AI? Why does Silicon Valley dominate the conversation on AI when the decisions they make, with little public oversight, could radically transform the human future? And what kind of world will today's students graduate into? This town hall presents an opportunity to reflect on these issues and help chart a different path, as part of a new grassroots movement Humans First. The event will provide a forum for students to share their hopes, excitement, fears, and uncertainties around AI. We hope to explore how to generate the political power to bring AI development under democratic control and animate a vision for how democracy can be preserved, rethought, and expanded as the power of AI grows.

Register here. Pizza provided.