Wheels. Crops. Gunpowder. Printing press. Lightbulbs. The internet. And today, artificial intelligence.

Each chapter of human history is marked by world-shaping technologies. While each was developed to solve existing problems, they also created new ones. The invention of the lightbulb displaced workers in the gas industry and led to fears of harms by electric illumination. The printing press made knowledge more accessible while also igniting debates over censorship, culture, and misinformation. Agriculture made communities more resilient to famine while also contributing to environmental hazards and more concentrated spread of disease.

For millennia, humans have pursued invention to improve their lives. But new technologies don’t necessarily make us happier, healthier, or safer — and rarely impact all communities equally. Where they help and where they harm is often determined by the priorities of the people who create them, and the systems built to support them.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to touch every major pillar in society, from personalized medicine to synthetic relationships to transportation. Advocates share visions of efficiency and abundance, while critics point to existing flaws that codify bias or risk catastrophe.

San Francisco is at the center of these conversations, which makes all of us uniquely positioned to have a voice. To guide you, our team gathered key vocabulary, dilemmas, opportunities, and cautions for you to explore. The choices we make, experiments we try, and the values we prioritize could shape how future generations discuss the impacts of this chapter. No one knows all of the right answers, but it’s our collective responsibility to ask the right questions.