As artificial intelligence accelerates beyond the pace of policy, markets, and diplomacy, the world faces a defining inflection point. This year’s Innovate@UCLA Summer Solstice brings together industry thought leaders, technologists, economists, geopolitical strategists, and innovators to confront the most consequential questions of our era: Who controls AI? and who gets left behind?

From algorithmic warfare and autonomous weapons systems to AI-driven economic disruption and the race for technological supremacy, the forces reshaping global power are moving faster than any single institution can govern.

This event examines the collision of three tectonic forces:

• The rise of generative AI and autonomous system
• The fracturing of the global economic order
• Intensifying competition between nation-states for technological and informational dominance

Attendees will engage with real-world scenarios at the intersection of Silicon Valley and the geopolitical stage: How do technologies born in defense and space programs migrate into the commercial enterprise? When information itself becomes a weapon, deployed on battlefields and in corporate boardrooms with equal precision, what does that mean for the organizations and leaders in this room? And as autonomous systems move from concept to operational reality, what are the implications for every industry that depends on infrastructure, data, and trust?

Through the keynotes, curated panel discussions, and networking sessions, attendees will grapple with these stakes firsthand — and be challenged to think beyond the algorithm toward the human, economic, and ethical consequences of the choices being made right now.

What to Expect:

Event Chair

Ghalib Kassam
Programs Event Chair, Innovate@UCLA
EVP CIO & CISO, Los Angeles Times