Conversations Before Midnight

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Each year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists convenes an exceptional community of leaders — in science, policy, business, and philanthropy — for an evening focused on the most urgent issues shaping our shared future.

Conversations Before Midnight is not simply an event; it is a space for serious, solutions-focused dialogue on the defining challenges of our time: nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies.

This annual gathering reflects the Bulletin’s unique mission: to connect evidence-based research with public engagement, and to translate scientific insight into societal impact. Attendees are not passive observers — they are partners in shaping responsible paths forward at a moment of global consequence.

• Location: The Blackstone, 636 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
• General Reception: 6:00-6:30 pm
• Dinner: 6:30-9:00 pm

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Blaise Agüera y Arcas is a Vice President and Fellow at Google, where he is the Chief Technology Officer of Technology & Society, and founder of Paradigms of Intelligence (Pi). Pi is an organization working on fundamental research in Artificial Intelligence and related fields, especially the foundations of neural computing, active inference, sociality, evolution, and Artificial Life. In 2008, Blaise was awarded MIT’s TR35 prize.

Jaan Tallinn is a founding engineer of Skype and Kazaa. He is a co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, the Future of Life Institute, and philanthropically supports other organisations tackling existential and catastropic risk. Jaan serves on the Board of the Center for AI Safety, and the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He has previously served on the AI Advisory Body at the United Nations, on the High-Level Expert Group on AI at the European Commission, as well as on the Estonian President’s Academic Advisory Board.

Alexandra Bell is the President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Prior to this, Bell served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Affairs in the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability (ADS) at the U.S. Department of State. From 2017 to 2021, she was the Senior Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and the Council for a Livable World.

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