From critical medicines to your morning donut, modern life runs on complex systems most of us never see. Increasingly, AI is helping run them. This conversation goes inside the networks moving medicines, patients, food, and everyday goods to explore where AI is making them smarter and more resilient, where it still falls short, and what it takes to make AI deliver in the real world.

Atlanta has the ingredients to build the next breakout AI company: world-class talent, leading research universities, Fortune 500 customers, a growing investor base, and industries where AI can prove itself in the real world. But what will it take to produce the city’s next billion-dollar AI company? Hear directly from founders about what they need in the earliest and hardest stages of building — from capital and customers to technical talent, mentorship, and a community willing to bet on an idea before it’s proven. They’ll get candid about where Atlanta gives founders an advantage, where it falls short, and what needs to change if the city wants the next great AI company to start, scale, and stay here.

Every student walking into a lecture hall today will graduate into a job AI is already reshaping, and the universities teaching them are rethinking more than just the syllabus. Classrooms, research labs, and workforce pipelines are all being rebuilt at once, and doing it well means Atlanta’s institutions figuring out how to move together instead of separately. This conversation gets into what that rebuild actually looks like, and why it matters well beyond any one campus.

AI is already making decisions, creating content, interacting with consumers, and changing how businesses operate. Now policymakers have to decide where the guardrails belong. What needs regulation? Where should industry be left to innovate? And who is responsible when AI causes harm? Georgia lawmakers working directly on technology policy come together for a candid conversation about the choices being made now — and how to protect people while creating an environment where innovation can continue.

Can AI help make it more competitive to build things in America again? Manufacturers are betting that AI, automation, and smarter systems can change the economics of domestic production. This session goes inside that bet — what’s working on the factory floor, where the technology is delivering real value, and where the challenges remain. Hear from the leaders putting AI to work in manufacturing today and what they’re learning as they move from promise to production.

Companies are investing millions in AI, but buying the technology is only the beginning. Is it saving money? Making employees better at their jobs? Helping companies move faster? Creating new revenue? This session gets into where enterprise AI is actually delivering results, where it’s falling short, and what companies are learning about turning an AI investment into measurable business value.

What if AI could help mission-driven organizations spend less time on administration and more time serving people? Foundations and nonprofits are beginning to use AI to better understand community needs, reach more people, improve services, and make limited resources go further. This conversation explores where AI can genuinely multiply impact — from philanthropy and education to health and community services — and what it takes to adopt new technology without losing the human connection at the heart of the mission.

Data centers are landing in neighborhoods across Atlanta, and the people living next to them are the ones asking the hardest questions. This conversation gets into what communities should actually expect and demand before the concrete gets poured — the noise, the emissions, the zoning fights — and what it takes to build AI infrastructure that neighbors can actually trust.

Atlanta has shaped the sound of music for decades, influencing artists, genres, and culture around the world. Now, AI is changing how music is created, produced, distributed, and experienced. Grammy Award-winning producer and entrepreneur Dallas Austin joins Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to explore what this transformation means for artists, the music industry, and Atlanta’s creative economy — and how a city known for defining what’s next in music can continue to lead in the age of AI.

Robots have been part of factories for decades. What’s changing is where they can go — and what they can do on their own. Powered by AI, a new generation of robots and autonomous systems is unloading trucks, working on farms, and delivering goods to our front doors. This session goes inside the shift from robots that follow instructions to machines that can navigate, adapt, and operate in the real world — and what we’re learning as they move from pilot to production.

Customers don’t care that you’re using AI — they care whether their experience is better because of it. From delivering critical information faster to helping service teams provide better answers, companies are using AI to rethink the moments that matter most to customers. This conversation explores where AI can make experiences faster, smarter, and even more human — and where technology risks getting between a company and the people it serves.

The AI workforce Atlanta needs five years from now is sitting in classrooms today. Schools, universities, nonprofits, and employers are already rethinking what it takes to prepare people for jobs that may not have existed just a few years ago. This session looks at how Atlanta can build a stronger AI talent pipeline — from the earliest classrooms through higher education and into the jobs of the next decade.

AI is moving out of the lab and into the moments where care actually happens — helping clinicians detect disease, make decisions, choose treatments, and spend more time with patients. But at the point of care, promise isn’t enough. AI has to be accurate, useful, safe, and trusted by the people relying on it. This conversation looks at what happens when AI meets the real world of healthcare: what’s already working, what clinicians are learning, and what it takes to turn a promising technology into proven, everyday care.

AI may be transforming everything, but it runs on something decidedly physical: electricity. As demand from AI and data centers accelerates, can our energy system keep up? This session looks at the race to generate more power, build a smarter and more resilient grid, and meet growing demand without abandoning the push toward cleaner energy. From new materials and domestic manufacturing to AI-enabled energy systems, it’s a look at what it will take to keep the lights on — and AI running.

Speed used to be a startup’s advantage. Now the biggest companies in the world are trying to move at that same pace, and getting there takes real partnership between the people building AI products and the people putting them to work inside massive organizations. This is where you’ll find what that partnership actually requires, and what it takes to innovate when speed and scale have to work together.

Georgia has built a creative economy with the studios, talent, infrastructure, and investment to make and scale content here. Now AI is changing the equation — from how ideas are developed and productions are made to the skills, jobs, and businesses behind them. This conversation explores what AI means for the people who create, how the economics of the industry could change, and what Atlanta needs to do now to ensure the next generation of creative companies and talent gets built here, too.

AI is changing cybersecurity on both sides of the fight – and evolving faster than humans alone can keep up. Attackers can move faster, scale attacks, and find new ways into increasingly connected systems, while defenders are turning to AI to detect and respond at the same speed. This conversation explores where AI is creating the greatest new risks, how defenses are evolving, and what it will take to stay ahead as both the threats — and the systems we’re protecting — become more intelligent and autonomous.

Tech Talks Business at Avant South will feature a conversation between Scheller College of Business Dean Anuj Mehrotra and Ronnie Chatterji, chief economist for OpenAI. In this exclusive fireside chat, Chatterji will share his perspectives, examine local and global trends, and illuminate the interconnectedness of our changing business world in the era of AI.