This one-day conference bringing together researchers from psychology, philosophy, and computer science to ask what the human mind can tell us about AI—and what AI can tell us about the human mind. Panels will examine how AI is reshaping human relationships, what it reveals about the nature of morality, and the ethical and political stakes of AI in public life, followed by a keynote by philosopher of mind David Chalmers (New York University).

What does it mean for an AI system to understand—and how can we know? Join SRI Faculty Affiliate Huili Chen for an interdisciplinary exploration of machine understanding, the different forms it might take, and how greater conceptual clarity could support the evaluation and responsible development of AI systems.

How should societies govern artificial intelligence, and which approaches are most likely to work? Join Seattle University’s Onur Bakiner for a wide-ranging examination of AI risks and harms, the strengths and limitations of technical safeguards, corporate self-regulation, and legal oversight, and the role of public participation in shaping the future of technology.

The 2026 September Soiree on Technophilosophy will bring together leading thinkers from neuroscience, chemistry, computer science, and philosophy. “Technophilosophy” asks philosophical questions about technology—and considers how emerging technologies can help us answer enduring philosophical questions.

How should we understand privacy, trust, and accountability in a world increasingly shaped by digital technologies? Join Cornell Tech’s Helen Nissenbaum, one of the most influential scholars working at the intersection of technology and ethics, for a wide-ranging exploration of the social values embedded in technological systems and enduring questions about privacy, autonomy, security, and responsible design.

Join SRI Faculty Affiliate Nicolas Papernot for a timely conversation on how artificial intelligence is reshaping cybersecurity and what it means for our increasingly connected world.

The University of Toronto and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society celebrate Professor Jacob Tsimerman, recipient of the 2026 Fields Medal. 

On May 13, 2026, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society will host an in-person dialogue led by SRI Faculty Affiliate and associate professor of book and media studies at the University of Toronto, Paolo Granata.

An annual academic conference hosted by the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, Absolutely Interdisciplinary convenes leading thinkers from a rich variety of fields to engage in conversations that encourage innovation and inspire new insights.

Organized by SRI’s 2025–26 graduate fellows, this workshop explores how increasingly capable AI systems reshape responsibility, authority, and governance across technical, institutional, and societal domains. Bringing together researchers, practitioners, and emerging scholars, the program moves from current approaches to trustworthy AI, to questions of expertise and governance, to long-term futures shaped by increasingly autonomous systems.

Join us for this in-person event as the Seeking Alignment panel brings together scholars working in the study of religion, history of science, media theory, and computer science to consider how the religious pasts of AI shape the foretelling of its future.

How are large language models reshaping the study of human language itself? Join Kyle Mahowald (University of Texas at Austin) as he shows how filtered pretraining and mechanistic interpretability experiments can illuminate linguistic structure—offering fresh insights into how humans process language and why these models may be genuinely informative for core questions in linguistics.

How can advanced AI systems reason, coordinate, and act responsibly in complex social settings? Join University of Toronto incoming assistant professor and Max Planck Institute research scientist Zhijing Jin for a high-level exploration of large language models, causal reasoning, and the foundations of responsible and trustworthy AI.

Join us for this in-person event as Karen Hao draws on her global reporting and insider access to discuss the implications of AI’s rapid deployment, the erosion of democratic norms, and the need to rethink how we design, govern, and distribute AI systems to support ongoing policy and public interest efforts aimed at ensuring AI benefits society broadly.

Join us for an in-person conversation with Bruce Schneier and Blaise Agüera y Arcas on cooperation, complexity, and the future of intelligence.

What happens when AI begins to take on the roles—and responsibilities—of persons? Join Google DeepMind senior staff research scientist and visiting King’s College London professor Joel Z. Leibo for a pragmatic examination of AI personhood, exploring how flexible bundles of rights and obligations can help societies govern emerging AI agents without settling intractable debates about consciousness or mind.

How can groups of intelligent systems learn to make decisions together? Join University of Waterloo professor and Google DeepMind research scientist Kate Larson for a high-level exploration of cooperation, collective decision-making, and the algorithmic foundations that shape how multi-agent AI systems interact, coordinate, and reach shared outcomes.

How can multi-agent systems enhance fairness and accountability in critical healthcare decisions? Join U of T’s Mamatha Bhat as she explores how multi-agentic AI could transform liver transplant selection by integrating clinical, ethical, and psychosocial reasoning—offering a transparent, data-driven approach that supports equitable and objective patient care.

What does it mean to design systems we can truly trust? Join SRI Visiting Senior Policy Fellow Bruce Schneier for a timely exploration of integrous systems design—why integrity has become the defining challenge of modern cybersecurity, and what it will take to build resilient digital systems, from AI agents to critical infrastructure, in the age of integrity.

What makes an AI a good companion? Join UT Austin’s Brad Knox for a look at how reinforcement learning and human feedback are shaping the next generation of socially interactive agents—and what it takes to build AI that aligns with our values, needs, and relationships.

What does it take to build AI systems that strengthen, rather than strain, our information ecosystems? Join UCLA computer scientist Saadia Gabriel for an exploration of how language technologies convey factuality, intent, and potential harm—and how rigorous measurement, responsible design, and a deeper understanding of misinformation can support a more trustworthy, socially grounded digital world.

What does it take to build AI that truly serves the public good? Join Collective Intelligence Project researcher, technologist, and writer Saffron Huang for a look at how democratic participation, transparent system behaviour, and thoughtful governance can shape more human-centred AI—and how reimagining the institutions behind technology can help us live together better in an AI-driven world.

Can chatbots help young voters better understand politics? Join the University of Toronto’s Semra Sevi as she presents new findings from experimental research on AI-powered voting aid applications—revealing how these tools boost political knowledge while raising questions about their broader civic impact.

As generative AI reshapes the digital art world, who holds the keys to creativity? Join UC Berkeley’s Sonia Katyal for a provocative look at how contracts and private licensing are redefining the boundaries of creative freedom—threatening to turn culture itself into a walled garden.

What worldviews shape the rise of AI—and what escapes their grasp? Join Lucy Suchman, a pioneering scholar of human–machine relations, as she critically examines the militarized imaginaries underpinning AI’s development and invites us to consider alternatives beyond closed-world thinking.

Could granting rights to AI make humans safer? Join the University of Houston’s Peter Salib as he explores how extending basic legal rights to AI systems—like the ability to contract, hold property, and seek remedies—could reduce the risk of catastrophic human–AI conflict and foster cooperative, peaceful coexistence.

Jeff Sebo urges expanding our moral community to include animals and some AIs, transforming ethics beyond human exceptionalism.

Join David Duvenaud, University of Toronto computer science professor and leading AI safety researcher, for a timely discussion on emerging risks from advanced AI systems—and how institutions might govern the future of artificial general intelligence. This special in-person presentation is jointly presented as part of the Department of Computer Science’s C.C. “Kelly” Gottlieb Distinguished Lecture Series.

How can law rise to meet the challenges of rapidly evolving technology? Join the University of Washington’s Ryan Calo as he introduces a step-by-step methodology for analyzing and challenging technology to serve society’s needs, drawing on insights from his new book Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach.

In this talk, Kuzminykh will explore how conversational interfaces with large language models (LLMs) are reshaping how people seek information, make decisions, and engage in creative work. While these systems offer intuitive and accessible interaction, they also raise concerns about user overreliance, prompt formulation challenges, bias amplification, and echo chambers. Drawing from her research with the COoKIE AI group, Kuzminykh examines the design of conversation architectures that can support more ethical, effective, and efficient human–AI collaboration.