The Blockchain Club at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School was proud to host the Power of AI and Blockchain conference on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. The goal of the conference was to expand student and community understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain topics with a focus on application. Students from business, computer science, law programs and more attended from Duke University, North Carolina State University and UNC Chapel Hill. Faculty from each university joined the students to learn from AI and blockchain industry leaders.
The day began with a keynote address from Jerry Cuomo, vice president of blockchain at IBM, discussing blockchain and AI basics. Next up, Phaedra Boinodiris, chief learning innovation officer at IBM, spoke about seven use cases for blockchain and AI for the good of society and the planet. Joe Kozhaya, Watson solution architect and IBM Master Inventor, gave a captivating presentation “How to Build and AI-Powered Harry Potter Hat.”
Breakout sessions included presentation from Bill Le Voir-Barry, CTO & advisor at IBM E-Sports, David Conover, serious video games learning experience designer at Connally High School, Gregory Kuhnen, senior director at the Advisory Board Company, Stephen Hyduchak, founder and CEO at Bridge Protocol, Matt Hamilton, product manager of Blockchain at IBM, and Akash Ganapathi, co-founder and CEO at Trill A.I. Topics included:
The day concluded with a discussion of enterprise and emerging technologies solutions for agriculture by Darron Goodgion, President at Not Rocket Science and “The Ethcial Implications of ‘Black Mirror’ – Why we Need AI Transparency” by Phaedra Boinodiris.