UW Foster Global AI Summit Explores the Future of AI and Human-Centered Innovation
Industry leaders convene to discuss the evolution of the rapidly evolving technology
By David Fenigsohn, Contributing writer, Foster School of Business
Business leaders, researchers and industry experts convened at the University of Washington Foster School of Business on March 25 to address the transformative role of AI in health, learning and careers. The Foster Global AI Summit, co-hosted by the Foster School and the Future Talent Council, brought together thought leaders to work through the challenges of integrating AI, particularly in the workplace.
Throughout the day, keynote speakers and panelists emphasized the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) across all sectors of society. A common theme throughout the presentations was that AI’s influence is not limited to business but impacts every area of human life.
Centering Humanity in the Age of AI
In his opening remarks, Foster School of Business Dean Frank Hodge set the stage for discussion around how AI can support our communities on a broad scale. “We are here to explore the purpose of AI through a lens of bettering humanity through business,” said Hodge. “It is essential to center humanity in that venture. As you plan for the future of AI, join us in thinking about not just how AI can make us more effective or efficient, but how it can make us as a community better.”
Opening keynote speaker Justin Hotard, incoming CEO of Nokia, positioned AI as the latest in a sequence of historic societal transformations, ranking AI among the agricultural, industrial, and Internet revolutions. Hotard expanded on the theme Hodge introduced. He advocated for understanding what history can teach us about these technological revolutions, what is happening in AI today, and how we can seize this opportunity to advance human progress.
Citing research on the impact of AI on productivity, Hotard addressed the broader implications of current advances. “This is important because this is the start of a super cycle. It is not just one step. Think back to the steam engine (and the impact it had beyond transportation). These cycles kick off more innovations, and the momentum builds on itself.”
Hotard shared examples from the agricultural, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications sectors to illustrate the value of responsible, human-centric AI. “AI is not going to replace us; it’s going to assist us,” he said.
Hotard touched on five use cases of AI at various stages of development. Machine learning and generative tools are already widely deployed; AI reasoning has only recently been more broadly adopted. The next frontier, he said, includes physical world models and artificial general intelligence. “AI will enable collaborative, autonomous robots, immersive holographic experiences, and digital twinning of everything in our physical world,” he predicted.
The Future of Work: Transformation, Not Elimination
The Summit’s first panel, titled “The End of Jobs As We Know Them?”, was moderated by Foster Professor Alan May and featured Natasha Jaques, Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind; Meagan Gregorczyk, who manages Global Talent Enablement for Snowflake; and Marni Baker Stein, Chief Learning Officer at Coursera. The panel addressed the provocative question of whether AI marks the end of jobs as we know them.
Panelists answered with a resounding yes. Gregorczyk estimated that up to 30% to 40% of today’s jobs will be unnecessary in their current form by as soon as 2030 across all industries. “What will we do with all these great people?” she asked. “It will require a new way of thinking about society.”
Jaques offered a historical perspective, noting that while most people once worked in agriculture, today less than one percent do. Instead, employment persists in broader, more fulfilling forms. “Those 40% of jobs have the potential to evolve into more meaningful careers,” she said.
Operational Innovation and Scaling Through AI
The day included three thematic tracks exploring AI’s influence on business, talent, and engineering. In one session, Foster Professor Benjamin Hallen shared research on how AI impacts startup scalability and growth. His interactive discussion included perspectives from an audience including Seattle city officials, students, and founders who are navigating AI’s real-world implications.
In the day’s second keynote address, David Glick, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Business Services at Walmart, spoke of the remarkable pace at which his team uses AI to advance operations at the retailer. As a telling example of the speed of change, Glick opted for a fireside chat format with Summation Co-Founder and CEO Ian Wong rather than repeating a presentation he had delivered just six weeks earlier — one he said was already outdated.
“We have a goal of every associate using AI every day,” Glick shared, highlighting rapid prototyping as a key benefit. “An engineer can sit down with an internal customer and build a prototype in three days.”
Glick described AI’s evolution from assistant to “agent,” a tool capable of delivering high-quality output independently. He acknowledged the strain this pace of change is putting on large bureaucracy but is confident that the organization can adapt. “We measure projects with a stopwatch, not a calendar.”
Navigating the Human-AI Partnership
The theme of the next generation of AI being centered on agents extended to the afternoon sessions, in which Kevin Oakes, CEO of i4cp, joined Foster faculty members Gregory Heller and Max Kleiman-Weiner for a session titled “The AI Balance Sheet: Navigating the Human-AI Partnership.”
“Agents bring systems together to achieve what no one system could do alone,” said Oakes, citing AI agents that integrate text, imagery, and data into unified experiences.
Heller focused on AI’s impact on hiring. He detailed how AI has birthed an arms race between candidates and recruiters. Job seekers now use AI to apply for hundreds of positions at scale, while recruiters deploy AI to filter out up to 95 percent of candidates without a human reviewing the resumes.
In a separate session on economic forecasting, Foster Professor Thomas Gilbert, a resident scholar at Amazon, discussed how the company uses AI to improve productivity. “Generative AI is immensely powerful in coding,” he said. “But Amazon is not firing engineers by the thousands. They are still scaling. But the rate of hiring will slow down (as a result of AI assistance). It’s about doing more with the same number of people.”
In the same session, noted AI researcher and Foster professor Léonard Boussioux reflected on how AI can help companies retain top talent. “It’s the tedious, mundane or annoying tasks that can be replaced with AI,” he said. “That frees people to work on projects that are more exciting.”
Stefania Druga, an AI Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, delivered the afternoon keynote. She provided examples of multimodal AI education for children. Her presentation included live demonstrations of several software applications enabling young children to supplement their studies with AI, including a Scratch coding application and voice-enabled research tools.
Innovation, Investment, and the AI-Driven Startup Landscape
The afternoon Innovation Tracks session focused on AI-driven entrepreneurship. Panelists included Kirby Winfield, Founding General Partner at Ascend VC; Tim Porter, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group; and Ken Horenstein, Founder and General Partner at Pack Ventures.
They emphasized that AI has lowered barriers to entry and accelerated the pace at which companies can bring a product to market. As a result, investors are increasingly backing strong founders over specific business plans. “Ideas are cheaper than ever to develop,” said Winfield. “You have to underwrite the founder.”
One such founder, Gabriel Jones of Proprio, presented a striking example of AI’s impact on healthcare. He shared a video of how AI-powered computer vision can enable surgeons to gain perspectives previously unavailable. “It’s not just about helping surgeons see around corners,” Jones said. “It’s about being a tech-first company in an industry that’s never had one.”
Microsoft’s Matthew Duncan, Head of Thought Leadership, delivered the final keynote. He showcased how AI-native startups are redefining industries from advertising to construction to artisan baking. He outlined key tactics shared by these companies, including flattening hierarchies and democratizing expertise.
The day concluded with remarks from Heller, Chair of Foster’s AI Taskforce, which was created to set a strategy for thoughtfully integrating AI into Foster’s curriculum and operations.
“Our North Star is that every Foster student be AI-ready,” he said, inviting attendees to return next year to assess progress and share new insights.
