SESSIONS

NASHVILLE MARRIOTT AT
VANDERBILT UNVIERSITY

Welcome and Opening Remarks

  •  Jacob Mchangama
  • Chancellor Daniel Diermeier

Keynote: The Right to Cognitive Liberty in the Digital Age

  • Nita Farahany

Interactive Session: Deliberative Democracy and AI Governance

  • Alice Siu

Threats to Global Press Freedom

  • Bay Fang
  • Alsu Kurmasheva 
  • Peter Greste
  • Moderator: Jodie Ginsburg

Mobilizing Dissent: Protest in Authoritarian States

  • Nikola Ilic 
  • Mariam Southwell 
  • Tarik Beyhan 
  • Moderator: Shikha Dalmia

“The State of Digital Rights in South Asia” (with a focus on India and Pakistan)

  • Usama Khilji

Measuring Free Expression in Generative AI Tools

  • Jacob N. Shapiro

Sponsored by

Academic Freedom Under Pressure

  • Jonathan Rauch 
  • Mary Kate Cary 
  • Rikki Schlott 
  • Moderator: John Tomasi

Sponsored by

Lightning Talk

  • Glen Weyl - “Pro Social Media” 

Lightning Talk

  • Renee Diresta - “Middleware”

Using First Amendment Survey Insights to Advance a Culture of Free Speech

  • Greg Lukianoff 
  • Kevin Goldberg 
  • Moderator: Ashkhen Kazaryan

Sponsored by

Lightning Talk

  • Augustina Del Campo - “The Free Speech Movement: Part of the Problem?”

Fireside Chat: “AI and the Future of Free Speech”

  • Tyler Cowen
  • Interviewed By Jacob Mchangama

Sponsored by

Reception at Elliston Place Soda Shoppe

Hosted by

Keynote: The Future of AI and Robotics

  • Matthew Johnson-Roberson

Live Podcast Recording: Advisory Opinions

  • David French 
  • Sarah Isgur

Debate Competition and Final Award Ceremony

Live Podcast Recording: The Good Fight

  • Yascha Mounk 
  • Jacob Mchangama 
  • Renee DiResta 
  • Jonathan Rauch

Breakout Session

“New York Times v. Sullivan: Seminal Precedent or Worthy of Review?”

  • Rodney Smolla
  • Samantha Barbas

Keynote: “Tibet and Digital Authoritarianism”

  • Chemi Lhamo

The AI Report

  • Jacob Mchangama

Panel: “AI Laws, Chatbots, and the Future of Expression”

  • Jordi Calvet-Bademunt
  • Ge Chen 
  • Carlos Affonso Souza
  • Kyung Sin Park
  • Moderator: Augustina Del Campo

Sponsored by

Interview: “Defying the Dark: Education as Resistance in Taliban Afghanistan”

  • Interviewer: Faisal Al-Mutar

Lightning Talk

  • Ben Brooks - “Free Speech in AI Depends on Open Technology”

Lightning Talk

  • Nathasha Edirisooriya - “Comedy, Blasphemy, and the Price of Laughter”

The Unshakable Mind: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Online Hostility

  • William B. Irvine

Panel: From 2020 to 2025 — Cancel Culture and the New Cultural Wars

  • Thomas Chatterton Williams 
  • John Wood Jr.  
  • Moderator: Micheal Moynihan

Sponsored by

Panel: “The State of Free Speech in America”

  • Randall Kennedy 
  • Jonathan Turley
  • Moderator: Francesca L. Procaccini

Street Epistemology Session

  • Peter Boghossian

Closing Reception

  • At the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University