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Leading with AI 2024

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D^3 Institute

 June 20, 2025

Taking place on-campus and online May 7, 2024, Leading with AI: Exploring Business and Technology Frontiers explored AI’s profound impact on the world and how it is reshaping the future of business and society. This full-day conference examined the business implications, ethical considerations, and regulatory practices related to AI, and offered frameworks for encouraging an AI-forward mindset and operating model for individuals and their organizations.

By the Numbers

934

Attendees

54

Speakers

5871

Online Visitors

21

Countries

584

Joined D^3 on Slack

76

Net Promoter Score

Program

Leading with AI featured presentations and discussions led by distinguished faculty members, industry experts, and AI innovators. It offered a platform for participants to network, fostering collaboration and the exchange of innovative ideas among alumni and practitioners.

Conference Co-Chairs

Leading with AI was chaired by HBS professors Karim Lakhani, Tsedal Neeley, and Mitch Weiss, and was presented in partnership with HBS Alumni Relations and the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard (D^3), a pioneering hub dedicated to the study of transformative technologies.

Karim Lakhani

Tsedal Neeley

Mitch Weiss

Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration
Harvard Business School

Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration
Harvard Business School

Richard L. Menschel Professor of Management Practice
Harvard Business School
MBA 2004

Speakers

  • Bas – Artist, Dreamville / The Fiends
  • Derek Ali – GRAMMY Award Winner and Founder & CEO, EngineEars
  • Azeem Azhar – Founder, Exponential View
  • Brian Bell – CEO, Split
  • Iavor Bojinov – Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Jeff Bussgang (MBA 1995) – Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • François Candelon – Global Director of the BCG Henderson Institute, Boston Consulting Group
  • Marcelo Claure – Founder & CEO, Claure Group
  • Jorge Cortell – Senior Advisor – Health & Life Sciences, The Harvard Innovation Labs
  • Srikant Datar – George F. Baker Professor of Administration & Dean of the Faculty, Harvard Business School
  • Eric Davich – Founder & CEO, Jammy, Inc.
  • Julian De Freitas – Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Francesca Dominici – Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • Ewa Duerr (MBA 2011) – Head of Product Management Google Cloud Artificial Intelligence, Google
  • Mary Erdoes (MBA 1993) – Chief Executive Officer, Asset & Wealth Management, JPMorgan Chase
  • Noah Feldman – Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard Business School
  • Nicolò Fusi – General Manager, Microsoft Research
  • Assaf Gad – VP Strategy and GM, Intuition Robotics Inc.
  • Kimo Gandall – CEO, Fortuna-Insights
  • Amit Goldenberg – Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Sunil Gupta – Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Somit Gupta – Google, Ex-Microsoft
  • Robert Huckman (PHDBE 2001) – Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Ayelet Israeli – Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Aditi Joshi – AI Program Lead, Core ML Google Cloud
  • Sham Kakade – Co-Director, Harvard University Kempner Institute
  • Rem Koning – Mary V. and Mark A. Stevens Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Lisa Krayer – Principal, Boston Consulting Group
  • Jackie Lane – Assistant Professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit, Harvard Business School
  • Charlene Li (MBA 1993) – Founder & CEO, Quantum Networks Group
  • Anita Lynch (MBA 2008) – Board Member, Nasdaq US Exchanges
  • Sunand Menon (MBA 2001) – Executive Fellow, Harvard Business School
  • Mickey Mikitani (MBA 1993) – Founder, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group, Inc.
  • Armen Mkrtchyan – Origination Partner, Flagship
  • Ethan Mollick – Associate Professor, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
  • Rob Morris – Co-Founder & CEO, Koko
  • Doug Ng – Head of Design, Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard
  • Michael Parzen – Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School
  • Roger Rohatgi – VP, Global Head of Design, bp
  • Dan Sack – Managing Director and Partner, BCG
  • Nitzan Shaer (MBA 2003) – CEO & Co-FOunder, WEVO
  • Sir Martin Sorrell (MBA 1968) – Executive Chairman, S4 Capital
  • Jie Sun – Co-Founder, basys.ai
  • Jorge Tamayo – Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Firdosh Tangri – CEO, Fantasy
  • Martin Tingley – Senior Manager, Experimentation Platform, Netflix
  • Jesús Valdiviezo – Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer, Skills.tech
  • Zain Verjee – Co-Founder, The Rundown
  • Katia Walsh – Chief Digital Officer, Harvard Business School
  • Jonathan Zittrain – George Bemis Professor of International Law, Harvard Law School

Reactions

“Agenda: broad/diverse and choice of panels and speakers. Venue: perfect with excellent sound and visuals. Timing: fast paced and effective”

PMD 65, 1993

“Extremely well prepared, breadth and quality of speakers, perfect planning in terms of timing and locations. And of course – the perfect weather! Plus, very good international representation and content.”

MBA 1994

“The Speaker line-up was top notch. I liked the collaboration and real-life scenarios among the speakers. High level leaders in their organizations telling us how they will do things differently and why – this was key.”

HBAP participant

“This is the third AI-focused event I have been to in the Boston area in the past month and by far the most professionally organized, informative and engaging of them all.”

“I have attended many AI conferences as a participant and a presenter. There hasn’t been another AI-focused conference that has offered more inspiration and thoughtful perspectives.”

“This was a very successful Lifelong Learning event for HBS Alumni that supports the idea of HBS for Life. Bravo for all the D3 team”

“Sessions were truly amazing and insightful! I wrote a 15-page report!”

“I liked the fast pace ‘fire hose’ approach to information sharing throughout the day along with the broad range of topics covered.”

“Overall, I found the day to be amazing – Karim was a great emcee and showed strong enthusiasm for the topic which of course is infectious.”

“The conference was exceptionally well planned & executed. All speakers were outstanding & the ambiance at HBS was conducive to renewing friendships with past school buddies & making new connections and friends.”

“It was the best conference I ever attended in my whole career.”

Press

CBS News – Can AI help people be more creative? Boston musicians want to find out

InnoLead – Four AI Questions Organizations Need to be Discussing

Forbes – Leveraging AI and Open Talent to Boost Business Velocity

Business Insider – JP Morgan’s Mary Callahan Erdoes says ‘curiosity’ will be the most important human trait in the age of AI

Fortune – The AI panic looks a lot like early criticism of electricity. We know how that turned out.

Harvard Magazine – Proactive AI Policy

Business Insider -Grammy nominee Bas said AI still can’t make music that evokes feeling: ‘AI never been to the club.’

Medium – AI’s Transformative Power: Key Takeaways from Harvard’s Leading with AI Conference

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