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.
In the first of a series about our speakers for our Summit in October, Helen writes about why they matter together. David Wolpert proved mathematically that complete knowledge is impossible for any intelligence inside its own universe. Caleb Scharf shows that life has always explored anyway. Wakanyi Macharia-Hoffman brings the philosophical tradition that already understood embeddedness. Gašper and Nina Beguš are dissolving the boundaries around human intelligence from both sides.
The standard AI vocabulary—alignment, control, safety—assumes a future where we understand enough. These five say that future doesn't arrive.
Helen's new chapter starts with a story about us—how fifteen years of watching each other think builds something AI can't replicate. From there she gets into the practical question of how to build an accurate mental model of AI (don't miss a university lecturer's "1/3 rule"). But she also asks: what happens when AI becomes the primary source of feedback about who you are. The chapter ends with a question I think everyone should consider.
I've always liked Demis Hassabis best among the AI leaders. He's a scientist first. He cares about expanding what humans can know. In a field full of people chasing money and power, that matters. Hassabis turned down a seven-figure gaming offer before he was eighteen because he wanted to study science. He drives a ten-year-old car. He doesn't collect houses. His dedication to discovery is legit.
But I didn't expect the book to also make me more cautious of him, I am still trying to figure out exactly why.
Mallaby—who wrote The Power Law, one of the best books on Silicon Valley—had over thirty hours of direct conversation with Hassabis and hundreds of interviews with allies, detractors, and rivals including Mustafa Suleyman and Ilya Sutskever. All of them come through as themselves. And what comes through with Hassabis is a mercenary quality to his charisma that the book never quite names but doesn't hide either. He deals with the Valley and takes its money while lambasting its leaders. He asks what money will even mean once productivity takes off. He believes he can control the most powerful technology ever built.
These come across as contradictions in a very deep person. People who are completely certain they're pursuing the ultimate good tend to treat friction as something to overcome. Hassabis knows the Oppenheimer parallel applies to him. He proceeds anyway. I find that combination of self-awareness and full commitment more unsettling than if he was just blindly ambitious.
I walked away from this book feeling like I know these people. In a field full of hagiography and hit pieces, that's a nice change. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand who is actually steering AI and what drives them.
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Join us in Athens, Greece at the World Beautiful Business Forum!
We’re proud to partner with the World Beautiful Business Forum in Athens this May. As many of you know, we have partnered with the House of Beautiful Business for several years—on public and private events—and the House serves as a key inspiration for our own Summit.
At this year's Forum, we are collaborating on the AI & Democracy Marathon and giving a talk, provocatively titled Human Democracy is Dead. We will be joined on stage by several members of our community: Arathi Sethumadhavan, Sir Geoff Mulgan, Julia Pahina, Larry Irving, Maggie Jackson, Sean White, and Tess Posner.
This year marks 10 years of the House of Beautiful Business—and the theme feels more urgent than ever:
The most human gathering for the more-than-human world.
For four days, 750+ leaders from business, art, philosophy, technology, policy, design, science, and activism converge in the heart of Athens—the cradle of democracy—to ask:
How do we build businesses that create beauty and positive impact in a fragmented world?
What makes this Forum different?
No name tags—removing hierarchy and transactional networking
Experiential, immersive, participative sessions
Playful formats that invite real exchange, not passive listening
Conversations that merge business, democracy, regeneration, belonging, and spirit
Fivemain stage acts inspired by Greek drama, more than 100 speakers, facilitators, and performers across more than 80 concurrent sessions organized into 10 immersive program tracks—and 1 powerful community.
It’s a living experiment in how business can be more life-centered.
Our video production is up, especially short videos. Follow us on your favorite channels—and please like, share, and repost to help us spread the word.
Dave Edwards is a Co-Founder of Artificiality. He previously co-founded Intelligentsia.ai (acquired by Atlantic Media) and worked at Apple, CRV, Macromedia, Morgan Stanley, Quartz, and ThinkEquity.
