This event spotlighted how AI systems intervene into one of the most fundamental aspects of society: designing and constructing dwellings.

Phil Bernstein is Deputy Dean and Professor, Adjunct at the School of Architecture at Yale University, where he teaches courses in professional practice, project delivery, and technology. He was formerly a vice president at Autodesk, where he was responsible for setting the company’s AEC vision and strategy for technology. Prior to joining Autodesk, Phil practiced architecture as an associate principal at Cesar Pelli & Associates where he managed many of the firm’s most complex commissions, including projects for Reagan National Airport, the Mayo Clinic, UCLA, and Goldman Sachs. He writes extensively on issues of architectural practice and technology, and his books include Architecture | Design | Data – Practice Competency in the Era of Computation (Birkhauser, 2018) and Machine Learning: Architectural Futures in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (RIBA, 2022). Phil has been honored twice by DesignIntelligence as one of the “30 Most Admired Educators in Architecture” and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He received a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Architecture from Yale, and is licensed to practice in California.

Jay Cephas is an architectural historian and urbanist exploring the intersections of technology, subjectivity, andspace. His research uncovers hidden knowledge in urban environments, with a focus on labor and cooperative housing in cities like Detroit and New York. Jay is the recipient of a Graham Foundation Grant for the Black Architects Archive, a tool for computational analysis and curriculum diversification in architectural history. His recent works include “Picturing Modernity” and “Agricultural Urbanism in Detroit.” Jay is also the founding director of Studio Plat, a geospatial research practice aimed at advancing social impact urbanism. He teaches at Princeton University and holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and an M.Arch. from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Molly Wright Steenson is the CEO & President of the American Swedish Institute, a 95 year-old museum and cultural institution, and an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the School of Design (on leave).  She is an internationally recognized author, historian, and designer whose research interests include AI, architecture, design, and craft practices. She is the author of Architectural Intelligence: How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape (2017) and the co-edited book Bauhaus Futures (2019), both on MIT Press. From 2015–23 at Carnegie Mellon, she was Vice Provost for Faculty and held the inaugural K&L Gates Associate Professorship in Ethics and Computational Technologies. and associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She holds a PhD in Architecture from Princeton University.

The event was moderated by Mona Sloane and supported by NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, Sloane Lab, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia.