I started this as an AI masterclass in June 2024 and have given it in some form ever since. The examples change every time. The ten steps have stayed put.
The talk is for people in the middle. You know enough about AI to use it every day and to be asked for an opinion about it, but you don't train models and you don't need to. I'm in the same spot. I have no depth in computer science, statistics or linguistics, and nobody has depth in all of them at once. The best any of us can do is look at the whole thing from a generalist's angle and keep checking our picture against what the systems actually do.
The steps build on each other. They start with the oldest pattern in technology, that it keeps getting faster and cheaper, and they end with a question nobody can answer yet: what happens if machines match us at most of the work we get paid for.
Each chapter below has a short written version, an exercise from the workshop version of the talk for most of them, and a link to that part of the recording. The recording is from a guest lecture at Elisava in October 2024, so some examples have dated. Each chapter ends with what has changed since, and the sources behind its claims.
Where I have given it
- June 2024: first take, recorded as a 90-minute lesson.
- August 2024: Bangkok, with TrendWatching and ThinkNext Asia.
- September 2024: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, with TrendWatching.
- October 2024: guest lecture at Elisava, Barcelona. This is the recording linked from each chapter.
- October 2024: CitiesRoundtable, Amsterdam, for city CTOs.
- November 2024: THNK, Amsterdam.
- November 2024: Jornada de IA, ANBIMA, Brazil, in Portuguese as Os próximos mil dias.
- October 2025: Master in Design for Responsible AI, Elisava, Barcelona.
- November 2025: Erste Group, online.
- October 2026: Erste Group Learning Week, online.
What people said
At Erste Group in November 2025, 356 people from seven countries watched the session. They rated the lecture 4.5 and the speaker 4.6 out of 5. Erste booked it again for its 2026 Learning Week.
Comprehensive picture of AI with an objective viewpoint.
Erste Group attendee
The utility of using frontier AIs and asking "What else should I know?"
Erste Group attendee
Great lecture, thank you very much for joining our Learning Week and giving us the opportunity to broaden our view of the AI world we are living with. It was very informative, and very well put together.
Erste Group attendee
Bring it to your team
I give the talk in three formats:
- Keynote, 45 minutes: the ten steps at speed, for conferences and all-hands.
- Masterclass, 90 minutes: the full talk with questions, online or in the room.
- Workshop, 2 to 3 hours: the masterclass plus the exercises in each chapter, for teams of 5 to 50.
I present in English and Portuguese. I have spent 15 years researching emerging technology at Envisioning, and I write the weekly Artificial Insights newsletter on AI.
To book it, schedule a call with me.
Guest lecture at Elisava, October 2024, recorded as The Next 1.000 Days. A live version from September 2024 and other talks are on Presentations.