Speaking
Talks, keynotes, and public conversations
285+ events — World Economic Forum, TEDxPaloAlto, United Nations General Assembly. AI governance, institutional design, philanthropy, and the future of democratic participation.
Selected talks
A New Code for AI
TEDxPaloAlto · 2024
Why AI governance requires a fundamentally new framework, not updated versions of existing regulation.
AI's Transformative Potential
Asia Society · 2024
How AI can serve public purpose, and what it requires from institutions, philanthropy, and civil society.
Civic Algorithms
Penn State Dickinson Law · 2025
The legal and institutional frameworks needed to govern AI as civic infrastructure.
Topics
Human Choice and AI
The central question of our technological moment is not what AI can do, but who decides. This talk examines the governance gaps that allow a small number of actors to make decisions that affect billions of people, and what it would take to close them.
Policy forumsTechnology conferencesFoundation convenings
AI as Public Infrastructure
Governing AI requires the same institutional ambition we brought to electricity, water, and public health, and what that means for policymakers, technologists, and civil society.
Policy forumsGovernment agenciesFoundations
Institutional Imagination
We build technologies faster than we build the institutions to govern them. This talk explores what genuinely new governance architecture for AI would look like, and the political will required to build it.
Leadership conferencesThink tanksAcademic institutions
Philanthropy in the Age of AI
When private capital concentrates around a transformative technology, philanthropy has a specific and irreplaceable role. A framework for how foundations can build governance capacity rather than just fund AI tools.
Philanthropy conferencesFoundation boardsImpact investors
The Future of Work Is a Choice
AI can double productivity with the same workforce or deliver the same output with half the people. Which outcome we get is not determined by the technology. It is determined by design choices. This talk examines who makes those choices and how.
Business conferencesLabor organizationsHR leadership
AI and Democratic Governance
How AI systems are reshaping the relationship between citizens and institutions, and what democratic societies must do to ensure that relationship remains one of accountability rather than surveillance.
Government leadersCivil societyInternational forums
Board Governance in the Age of AI
What fiduciary duty means when AI systems are making decisions that affect patients, customers, and communities. A practical framework for board-level AI oversight.
Corporate boardsHealth system boardsNonprofit boards
Past venues (285+ engagements)
World Economic Forum (Davos)United Nations General AssemblyTEDxPaloAltoParis Peace ForumAI Action SummitMunich Security ConferenceAspen Ideas FestivalAspen Security ForumClinton Global InitiativeIndia AI Impact SummitAsia SocietyBrookings InstitutionCarnegie Endowment for International PeaceStanford HAICSISOECD ForumWorld Bank Digital SummitMobile World CongressStanford Medicine Grand Roundsand many more
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Vilas speaks at conferences, government forums, foundation convenings, and corporate events. All speaking is subject to availability and mission alignment.