AI and You: A Panel Discussion about Artifical Intelligence

Learn from experts about the current state of AI and what the future may bring.

Panelists include author and IT futurist Ben Pring, UMass Law Professor Erica Sylvia, and Brian Bergstein, Deputy Managing Editor for the Ideas section of the Boston Globe. For more information visit Sturgislibrary.org

Ben Pring is a widely recognized IT futurist and author with extensive experience on cutting-edge issues in business and technology, including software engineering, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and labor arbitrage. His work has been covered in major publications including Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, PBS’s News Hour and MIT Review. Books he has co-authored include What to Do When Machines Do Everything (2017), Monster: Taming the Machines that Rule Our Lives, Jobs, and Future (2021), and Certain Uncertainty: Leading With Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World (2023).

Erica Sylvia, a UMass Law professor since 2021, teaches a variety of practice-based courses and has been voted Professor of the Year for the last two academic years. She is passionate about technology, with a particular focus on the effects of AI on the practice of law and the use of generative tools in the workplace and the classroom. She is a former Assistant District Attorney for the Bristol District of Massachusetts, and prior to that received her J.D. from UMass Law in 2017 after serving as Managing Editor for the UMass Law Review and earning the Leader for Justice Award for her more than 300 hours of pro bono legal work.

Brian Bergstein is Deputy Managing Editor of The Boston Globe’s Ideas section and a member of the Globe’s editorial board. He is a former executive editor of MIT Technology Review, which was twice nominated for the National Magazine Award in general excellence during his tenure. As part of his work he oversaw major editorial iniatives including a 2017 special issue on artificial intelligence. He was also the founding editor of the biotechnology publication NEO.LIFE, editor of the anthology Neo.Life: 25 Visions for the Future of Our Species, and previously served The Associated Press in capacities ranging from technology reporter to national news editor.