AI & THE WORKFORCE SUMMIT
Valence's AI Summit for
Global Talent Leaders
SHAPE THE FUTURE OF WORK
JOIN LEADERS FROM
Valence's inaugural AI & the Workforce Summit in New York City was attended by nearly 200 talent leaders representing 7.5 million employees.
Our virtual sessions reached another 1,000+ forward-thinking leaders across the globe.
One key theme emerged clearly: AI isn't just changing talent development, it's wholly transforming our workforces and the role of HR within them. And the organizations that will thrive in this era aren't just observers - they're pioneers willing to experiment, learn, and adapt.
What We Heard
Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton's fascinating AI fog analogy, and the difficulty of predicting how our AI-powered workforces will look in 2034
Former Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb explaining why "wait and see" is the riskiest AI strategy of all
Read Top InsightsResearchers from Google, Microsoft and NYU talking about AI misconceptions, AI adoption and the coaching of the future
The Chief Talent Officers of Experian, Analog Devices and Schneider Electric discussing early AI coaching success stories
The former CHRO of IBM declaring that "Change management is dead"
The CHROs of Prudential and WPP talking about a new role in the "Chief Work Officer"
Read More InsightsFeatured Sessions
We heard from your peers, AI experts, and thought leaders on the future of work. About their hopes, their promising ideas, and their early experiments. Together, we sought to find an exciting but safe path that considers the risks but captures the upside of this momentous time.
KEYNOTE
A Fireside Chat with the “Godfather of AI”
Geoffrey Hinton, the "godfather of AI" and Nobel Prize laureate, pioneered neural networks and deep learning, which underpins modern AI technologies used worldwide.
Hinton’s students have been leaders in many of the major AI labs and companies. His accolades include the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, 2018 Turing Award, as well as being on the cover of Time Magazine’s “The AI 100.” In a rare fireside chat with this luminary, he shares what is so powerful about the technology and advice for how leaders can unlock its potential and prevent its pitfalls.
FIRESIDE CHAT
AI: Now or Never
AI is a fast-developing technology, and it may be tempting to wait and see how it evolves. But those who lean in early will deliver compelling productivity gains and help people, especially leaders, develop new and better capabilities.
Bill McNabb
Former CEO
"As soon as you feel like we can't do something new because it's going to disrupt what we've been doing, it's the beginning of the end. If you can imagine something could happen, somebody is already doing it, and they're coming at you from a competitive landscape."
PANEL
AI and the Future of Talent
How is work best done in our organizations, and how is AI changing what roles are needed and the organizational structures of companies? CHROs explore how AI will change the way we think about work excellence and what is possible for the talent functions of tomorrow.
Larry Emond
Senior Partner
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Lucien Alziari
CHRO
Lindsay Pattison
Chief People Officer
PROVOCATION
Making Managers Excellent
Prasad Setty led Google's original research, Project Aristotle and Project Oxygen, into what makes teams and leaders effective. In this fireside chat, he discusses what he learned and the power of AI to provide contextual, personalized development at scale.
Prasad Setty
Former VP
of People Operations
"If people very quickly jump to the efficiency side of [AI], it just becomes something that your organizations resist. They don't want to be seen as people who are just cranking the wheel faster."
PANEL
Change Management: From Fear to Curiosity
No organization is a monolith, and within an employee base, there are AI enthusiasts and early adopters as well as resisters. How do you bring the entire organization along and shift the most resistant parts of the organization from fear to curiosity?
Cameron Hedrick
Head of Learning & Culture
Lisa Naylor
Global Head of Leadership Development
Diane Gherson
Former CHRO
PROVOCATION
AI Misconceptions
A condensed version of a popular internal presentation at Microsoft, this talk dispels common AI misconceptions, including why AI isn’t all hype, why AI’s best use isn’t to replace people, and why we should be shaping the future of work instead of trying to predict it.
Brent Hecht
Director of Applied Science
PANEL
AI Coaching Early Use Cases
AI will change every workplace, but where does that change start? In this panel, we look at how leading organizations are testing and experimenting with AI, the most valuable starting use cases, and how to expand from initial use cases to effective AI at scale.
Leslie Wilkinson
Chief Talent Officer
Tim Gregory
Managing Director, HR Innovation & Tech
Jennifer Carpenter
Global Head of Talent
PROVOCATION
Game-Changing Coaching
Author of The Digital Coaching Revolution, Dr. Tavis turns to performance athletes and their coaches to understand what the future of work coaching might look like. She leaves us with a few provocations on what we’re getting right, and wrong, as HR professionals.
Dr. Anna Tavis
Chair, Human Capital
Management Department
"I think we're going to graduate from skills with the help of AI, and we'll be able to contextualize performance."
PANEL
Upskilling the Workforce for the AI Era
AI is already changing the jobs we do and how we do them. It’s also one of the best tools we have to navigate the changes ahead. This panel looks at how AI can help upskill and reskill our workforces for the new jobs to be done and the new ways we do them.
Tina Kao Mylon
Chief Talent and Diversity Officer
Rachel Kay
CHRO
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Chris Louie
Head of Talent
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