Theme: AI and Human Potential

Artificial intelligence is one of the most transformative technologies of our time, with the potential to revolutionize every aspect of our lives. From the mundane to the profound, AI is already having a significant impact on the human experience. In the spirit of TED and Ideas Worth Sharing, TEDxPaloAlto aims to explore different aspects of AI and AI-related topics.

Guild Theatre
949 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, California, 94025
United States

Andy Gass

Andy has been writing and speaking on technological innovation and intellectual property issues for more than 20 years. He is currently a litigator at the law firm Latham & Watkins, where he represents startups and technology companies in high-stakes disputes over how the law deals with novel digital tools. And he teaches a variety of courses—currently one titled “Copyright, Competition & Technology”—at the UC Berkeley Law School, which boasts the top-ranked IP law program in the country. Andy graduated from Yale College and Berkeley Law, and served as a law clerk to the late Stephen Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He currently sits on the Board of the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, and lives in Healdsburg, California.

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley) and an adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Think Remarkable, Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Irena Smith

Irena Smith is a former Stanford admissions officer turned college counselor and acclaimed author. After emigrating from the Soviet Union at age nine and overcoming her conviction that she would never learn English, she earned a PhD in Comparative Literature and taught literature and composition at UCLA and Stanford before transitioning to admissions counseling and writing. Her memoir, "The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays," recently won the 2023 Best Book Award for creative nonfiction. Forbes lauds it as "captivating and smart," an antidote to conventional thinking about elite college admissions.

Judith Finell

Renowned musicologist Judith Finell presides over Judith Finell MusicServices Inc. in New York and Los Angeles, a music consultancy established 25 years ago. A leading expert witness in many high-profile copyright disputes, she has shaped pivotal legal outcomes, including in the landmark "Blurred Lines" trial. Her firm advises industry giants including Disney, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and Sony Pictures on music integration in films, media, TV, and commercials. Standing at the intersection of music, law, and technology, she was the 2018 UCLA School of Music commencement speaker and featured in NBC/Universal's documentary "The Universality of Music." At UCLA, Finell co-teaches the sole Forensic Musicology course nationwide and is a frequent guest speaker at law schools including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and international legal forums.

Maja Matarić

Maja Matarić is a Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at the University of Southern California and Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind. Her PhD is from MIT. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fellow of AAAS, IEEE, AAAI, and ACM, recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics & Engineering Mentoring, Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision, NSF Career, MIT TR35 Innovation, and IEEE RAS Early Career Awards, and authored "The Robotics Primer" (MIT Press). A pioneer of socially assistive robotics, her research is developing human-machine interaction methods for personalized support for users with challenges, including autism, stroke, dementia, anxiety, and other major health and wellness challenges. She is also co-founder of Embodied, Inc.

Mike Dougherty

Mike Dougherty is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Remix AI, the first social app for AI creation. He has over 20 years of experience with consumer technology and digital media. Prior to Remix AI, he was CEO and co-founder of Jelli (acquired by iHeartMedia), a social audio and advertising platform reaching hundreds of millions of people. Before this he was the head of business development and strategy at Tellme, a speech recognition platform (acquired by Microsoft), and Loudeye, a global digital music platform (acquired by Nokia). Mike was also COO/CFO of Outdoorsy, an online marketplace for outdoor experiences. Dougherty is named on 9 issued US technology patents and is an avid collector of generative and AI digital art. Dougherty has appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box and NBC Press:Here, and at TEDxSF, NAB, CES, Digital Hollywood, Intel’s CEO Summit, The Paley Center, RAIN, Radio Ink’s Convergence, NARM, and he was named a Power Player by All Access.

Oded Gal

Oded Gal is an investor, advisor, and board member of startups building the future of work. He is an Independent Board Member for Neat, an LP and Advisor for R-Squared Ventures, and an Advisor for Flexspace. Oded was the Chief Product Officer at Zoom for seven years, helming product development and UI design from video conferencing software to a broad-based communications platform including conference room system, phone system, chat, contact center, and developer and partner ecosystems. Prior to Zoom, Oded held product leadership roles at BlueJeans and Cisco and led business development for Radvision. Oded has a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Scott Aaronson

Scott Aaronson is Schlumberger Chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, and founding director of its Quantum Information Center, currently on leave at OpenAI to work on theoretical foundations of AI safety. He received his bachelor's from Cornell University and his PhD from UC Berkeley. Before coming to UT Austin, he spent nine years as a professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Aaronson's research in theoretical computer science has focused mainly on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers. His first book, Quantum Computing Since Democritus, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. He received the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, the United States PECASE Award, the Tomassoni-Chisesi Prize in Physics, and the ACM Prize in Computing, and is a Fellow of the ACM and the AAAS.

Vilas Dhar

Vilas Dhar is an artificial intelligence policy expert, human rights advocate, and a champion for equity in a tech-enabled world. He has held a lifelong commitment to creating human-centered institutions, and his experiences as a lawyer, technologist, investor, and philanthropist shape his approach to enabling communities to build solutions to the world’s most difficult challenges: climate and disaster impacts, last mile health delivery, and digital autonomy and dignity. He has been appointed to the United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on AI and serves as the President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, where he oversees one of the largest philanthropic campaigns to build a thriving AI enabled future.