The theme of the Artificiality Summit 2026 is Unknowing. We start with five speakers—David Wolpert, Caleb Scharf, Wakanyi Macharia-Hoffman, Gašper Beguš, and Nina Beguš—whose work converges on a single finding: the uncertainty surrounding AI is permanent, not a phase.
Our original research into the human experience of AI. We aim to find signal in the noise, giving our readers a clear picture of today and an understanding of what might be possible in the future.
We have attempted to summarize the outputs and approach of three studies—from Oxford University, McKinsey Global Institute, and Intelligentsia.ai (our own research firm acquired by Quartz in 2017).
The results suggest that the highest earning and most powerful feel far more optimistic about automation while those in lower-paying jobs feel much less in control.
As AI pervades more of our physical world experience, AI determines how we interact and learn, offering us less experience in the physical world. At some point, things need to happen in the physical world, with in-person interaction. These are the skills that an AI won’t be able to beat us at.
