The unchecked rise of AI has captured headlines, causing extreme enthusiasm for its promise and considerable concern over its potential dangers. The mood swings between hype and fearmongering call for a rational voice of reason. Enter Gary Marcus.

We’re thrilled that Marcus — author, founder and neuroscientist — will join us for a session called “Between Hype and a Hard Place: Gary Marcus on AI’s Next Steps,” September 20 on the AI Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023.

Well known in academic circles, Marcus testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last May — along with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Christina Montgomery, IBM’s chief privacy trust officer. The topic? The need for AI regulation.

Marcus believes that AI presents serious risks, and he brings an impartial voice to the conversation. He’s not employed by or beholden to any AI company. Action, regulation and cooperation are necessary to determine whether the benefits outweigh the risks before companies deploy an AI product to customers.

He has ideas on how to make that happen, and we can’t wait to hear them.

Learn more about our speaker — and his qualifications for tackling this challenging topic — below.

Gary Marcus: Author, scientist, founder and Professor Emeritus, NYU

Gary Marcus, a leading voice in artificial intelligence, is a scientist, bestselling author and founder of Robust.AI and Geometric.AI, which was acquired by Uber. He is well known for his challenges to contemporary AI, anticipating many of the current limitations decades in advance, and for his research in human language development and cognitive neuroscience.

An Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU, he is the author of five books, including, “The Algebraic Mind,” “Kluge,” “The Birth of the Mind,” and the New York Times bestseller “Guitar Zero.”

Marcus frequently contributes to The New Yorker, Wired and The New York Times. His most recent book, “Rebooting AI,” with Ernest Davis, is one of Forbes’s 7 Must Read Books in AI.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco. Buy your pass today by 11:59 p.m. PDT, and you can save up to $600. Student and nonprofit passes are available for just $195.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.