Summer Solstice 2026 Recap
Summer Solstice – Code Red: AI at the Crossroads – Technology, World Economics, and Conflict (May 21, 2026)
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming the way both individuals and businesses operate, transcending its previous boundaries to constantly create limitless opportunities. This year’s Summer Solstice event, hosted by Innovate@UCLA at the UCLA University Club, brought together nearly 100 professionals across industries to examine the real-world impact of AI in defense, intelligence, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and academia.
The morning began with breakfast and brief networking, followed by an introduction from Summer Solstice Event Chair Ghalib Kassam (EVP, CIO, & CISO, Los Angeles Times) of the opening keynote speaker, Snehal Antani (CEO & Co-Founder, Horizon3.ai). His address, “AI-Accelerated Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare – The New Frontier of Global Power,” focused on the increasingly powerful capabilities of AI in solving problems–both as an opportunity and a threat. He pushed the idea of AI bringing in “unlimited cyberbullets” in cyberwarfare.
Panel discussion “The Double-Edged Sword” was led by Greg Moore (Vice President, CIO, KB Home), featuring Christopher Elliot (SVP Cyber Threat Management, LPL Financial), Shivani Desai (Principal Director of Applied AI and Advanced Infrastructure, The Aerospace Corporation), and Vikash Sharma (Head of Product, DirecTV). This conversation explored ethical concerns surrounding AI in content creation, defense weaponization, leadership and geopolitics, and cybersecurity.
UCLA Student Innovation Hub featured UCLA students Ashita Singh, Samantha Leung, and America Montanez, led by Lucy Avetisyan, Associate Vice Chancellor & CIO, UCLA. They highlighted a key challenge: although students produce high-quality, real-world projects, much of this work goes unseen, making it difficult for employers and departments to discover talent while students struggle to access meaningful professional opportunities. To address this, they introduced and demonstrated their AI-powered platform, which enables students to showcase projects, allows organizations to define needs, and intelligently matches both sides to create pathways for collaboration, mentorship, and hiring.
Fireside Chat “War, AI, and the Future Power” with Phillippe Kassouf (Founder & CEO, CHIRP Robotics) and Ghalib Kassam focused on the capabilities of AI to integrate into physical defense and combat technologies, and how AI serves as a force multiplier in the post-Keynesian industrial revolution.
Structured Networking led by Theresa Miller (Women In Technology Chair, Innovate@UCLA) was organized around specific themes – AI in defense, warfare, government, and cybersecurity. The networking session sparked continuous discussion and allowed members to connect through shared professional focus areas.
Deepika Manglani (VP, Product & Program Management, Los Angeles Times) moderated a panel, “The Invisible War: AI, Adversarial Threats & the Fight for Enterprise Resilience,” featuring Jagjit Dhaliwal (JD) (Head of Partnerships, GenAI ISVs, Amazon Web Services) and a Los Angeles Field Office Counterintelligence Strategic Partnership Program Coordinator from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This panel focused on the role of data, from corporations all the way to insider information attacks on active threats.
The topic of conversation shifted to academia with Professor Andrea L. Bertozzi (Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCLA) and her closing keynote address, “In the age of AI-mathematics as a vehicle for dual use technology”, which emphasized the importance of mathematics and research in the development of image-processing. This had huge applications in road interpolation, damaged text recovery, and active learning.
Innovate@UCLA extends its appreciation to Sean O’Connor and LevelBlue for their support in sponsoring this event.
We look forward to the 2027 Summer Solstice event!