I was recently in Washington, DC, for a panel discussion titled “Advancing Education in the AI Era: Promises, Pitfalls, and Policy Strategies” organized by the Center for AI Policy. The panel, moderated by Jason Green-Lowe of the CAIP, also included Michael Brickman, Education Policy Director, The Cicero Institute; Bethany Abbate, AI Policy Manager, Software and Information Industry Association; and Pati Ruiz, Senior Director of Edtech and Emerging Technologies, at Digital Promise.

It was a somewhat grueling trip since I had to take a red-eye, arriving in DC at around 7am the day of the event. This was not my first time going to DC, having been there many times before. But this was the first time I was going to the Capitol building, not as a tourist, but rather as an invited guest, to present my perspectives and expertise on an important issue. And that was a good feeling. Truth be told, it was an emotional moment to stand there, at the seat of our government, just soaking it in, reflecting not just on my personal journey but also that of our nation. This was sacred (in the secular sense of the term) ground that I was standing on, and it was impossible not to be moved by that. Below are some photographs from the day:

The panel went well. It was a packed, standing-room-only crowd and I (despite my lack of sleep) appeared halfway coherent. I know I have mentioned this in an earlier post, but it bears repeating again: I am deeply grateful to the people in my LinkedIn network for all the ideas they had shared with me. I hope I managed to capture some of all that was shared with me. A huge shout to Jakub Kraus for all his work in making this event happen.

The video of the session is given below. embedded at the bottom of this post.