Event set March 21 and 22 at Southern Oregon University; early registration ends Feb. 4
By Damian Mann for Ashland.news
An upcoming artificial intelligence summit in Ashland will plunge community leaders into a thought-provoking discussion about a technology that is on course to change the world.
“I’m not so concerned about the Hollywood version of AI,” said Paul Hynek, who will emcee the “The Architects of the New Paradigm” summit on March 21 and 22 at Southern Oregon University. “We will have a marriage of human-style consciousness and machine learning.”
Hynek, an entrepreneur who lives in Southern California and has worked on movies such as “Avatar” and “Lord of the Rings,” said the event will not just be a showcase for the possibilities of AI, which is already a force in consumer and corporate technology.
“What I like about the summit is it’s not all ‘ra, ra ra,’” he said.
This is the second year that organizers are holding the summit in Ashland, though this year it will be more focused on community leaders, such as legislators and educators, who will probe the sociological and future impacts of the technology.
A number of topics will be highlighted in panel discussions, which will include 20 presenters and panelists such as Oregon Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, Oregon Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, Rick Bailey, president of Southern Oregon University, Randy Weber, president of Rogue Community College, and Daniel DeFreez, who has taught AI engineering at SOU since 2021.
Early registration for the event from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm Friday, March 21, and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 22, will be $125. Early registration ends Feb. 4, and higher rates will apply until March 18. For more information about pricing and for a list of all the presenters, go to anpconference.com/approaching-ai-summit-2025-ashland-or/.
Organizers say the rates will just cover the costs of the summit, which drew about 150 people last year.
The event will focus on five different aspects of AI.
It will delve into AI’s transformation of commerce, education and institutions.
AI has already moved into the creative landscape, and panelists will discuss how it is used in art and the media.
AI learning is finding its way into education and training, incorporating other technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality.
Workplace roles will change and AI will offer greater efficiencies and labor replacement. AI’s impact will stimulate a panel discussion about ethics and safety.
Hynek, who refers to himself as a “transhumanist,” said most technological innovation has prompted lots of predictions, some of which don’t bear out.
As an example, he said the Wright brothers thought aviation would prevent war due to it opening up the battlefield to greater transparency. “They didn’t realize that we could drop things from planes,” Hynek said.
He said his interest in AI is best reflected in the science fiction writings of Isaac Asimov.
In 1983, Asimov wrote: “Computerization will undoubtedly continue onward inevitably … This means that a vast change in the nature of education must take place, and entire populations must be made ‘computer-literate’ and must be taught to deal with a ‘high-tech’ world.”
Jordan Pease, executive director of the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library in Ashland and producer of the summit, said he has concerns about AI’s unprecedented and evolving capabilities.
“I’m a little more alarmed than embracing at the moment,” he said.
Pease hopes to raise community awareness and involvement through the AI summit and “take the blinders off” for many who don’t understand what’s at stake.
“It’s worrisome how few of my business colleagues are paying attention at all,” he said.
He’s already getting interesting feedback from some people who have recently learned about the summit.
“They’re saying ‘AI is evil, and no way I’m coming to a conference like this,’” he said. “We want the people who are nervous to come.”
Pease, who noted the event won’t be a demonstration of current technology, said some of the AI tools are uncanny.
He used a voice program recently and, in a few minutes, the program was emulating his own voice and speaking back to him.
So-called “deepfake” AI tools can not only mimic a person’s voice but produce videos that appear to be a person talking, Pease said.
When Pease receives emails or texts from friends or colleagues, he said he finds himself wondering how much of the wording was produced by AI, which he said raises questions about social norms.
One of the event’s discussions about AI safety protocols will be led by Ian Ingram, founder and CEO of Neuraven AI Consulting and Prompt Engineering Services, Hynek said.
He said a summary of the intent of the summit is to examine AI’s broader sociological effects while exploring and evaluating its future impacts
Sen. Golden said he’ll be interested in discussing the duty of lawmakers “to stay plugged in to start crafting the smartest possible sideboards as we sail into uncharted waters.”
He said other public policy issues involve the gigantic energy demands of AI, crypto-mining and data centers.
Rep. Marsh said she’s also concerned about the energy needs and will offer a bill soon that will make sure data centers pay their fair share of costs rather than imposing them on ratepayers.
Marsh said she struggles to figure out what AI means in her own life, or what it means on the world stage.
She said she asked her daughter recently and received a three-part, well articulated and thoughtful response.
“I was really impressed,” she said. “It turns out, of course, that what I should have been impressed by was her mastery of AI.”
Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at [email protected].
Related stories:
AI slop is already invading Oregon’s local journalism (Dec. 9, 2024)
SOU computer science professor awarded $250K grant for AI research (Nov. 2, 2024)
Probing the possibilities: AI summit held in Ashland (Sept. 22, 2024)
