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Kevin Werbach          

Leading Expert on the Business Legal & Public Policy Implications of Emerging Technologies; Authority on the Future of Blockchain; Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, The Wharton School

Kevin Werbach, an Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, has been enlightening minds since 2004. With a profound interest in emerging internet technologies, telecommunications policy, electronic commerce, and network neutrality, Werbach has made significant contributions to the field. His notable roles include founding the Supernova Group, a technology analysis and consulting firm in 2002, and leading the review of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2008 upon request by then-President-elect Barack Obama.

Werbach has co-authored two impactful pieces, "For The Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business" and "Gamification Toolkit: Dynamics, Mechanics, and Components for the Win." Beyond the realm of traditional teaching, he also ventured into online education, creating a Massive Open Online Course on Gamification that aired on Coursera. His current work orbits around evolving Internet architecture policy implications, regulation of Internet video, and next-generation broadband access.

As the founder of the Wharton Digital Asset Blockchain project, Werbach has delved into the world of AI and blockchain. He also plays a vital role as the academic director of Wharton’s executive education program, "Strategies for Accountable AI," and hosts the podcast "The Road to Accountable AI." Werbach’s specializations include AI, blockchain, and their global regulatory landscapes, guiding on the ethical, legal, and societal implications of new technologies. His work on blockchain's impact on decentralizing power and enhancing privacy across various industries, including cybersecurity and banking, is highly recognized. Known for offering strategic guidance on navigating the complex interplay between technology, trust, and government, Werbach readies businesses to comply with evolving regulations while creating innovative, ethical practices leveraging emerging tech for a competitive edge.

Speech Topics

Big Data, Big Responsibilities: The Ethics of AI

AI and related technologies are transforming the business landscape in virtually every industry. But in addition to offering enormous new opportunities for growth and innovation, these technologies can also produce abuses of privacy, unethical manipulation and new forms of discrimination. In turn, such challenges have resulted in more political scrutiny and regulation of the firms that develop and employ these emerging technologies or utilize the data of millions of consumers. These actions create potential pitfalls ranging from public backlash to extensive fines and even outright bans. Organizations seeking to benefit from big data and analytics must consider their limitations, as well as the emerging legal and technical mechanisms of algorithmic accountability. In this presentation, Kevin Werbach draws on his Wharton course, “Big Data, Big Responsibilities,” to outline the legal and ethical challenges posed by AI and the data economy, and discuss how organizations can benefit from these technologies while respecting their consumers’ privacy and autonomy.

The Metaverse: Uncovering Opportunities and Dispelling Myths

Companies are promoting sparkling visions of what the metaverse can offer. While there are tremendous opportunities for business and society, the virtual land rush is based on a myth, says Wharton Professor Kevin Werbach, a leading authority on the business, legal and public policy implications of emerging technologies. In this talk, he cuts through the metaverse hype, situates the metaverse as the convergence of four streams of technology — online communities, video games, virtual reality, and digital assets — and identifies where the real opportunities lie. He also explains how the metaverse connects to the trust revolution of cryptocurrencies, digital assets and decentralized blockchains.

The Rise of Blockchain: Myths, Realities and Opportunities

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are wildly overhyped. Some experts (as well as non-experts) tout the coming triumph of the blockchain-enabled cryptocurrency over all existing forms of money. But the digital currencies that do exist are frequently used for illegal activity or bubble-inducing speculation that tends to end in catastrophe for investors who fail to sell at the right time. And yet, says Kevin Werbach, it would be wrong to dismiss these technologies. Separate from cryptocurrency investment activity, organizations and communities around the world are starting to deploy blockchain-based systems – in a less dramatic fashion – to address real business needs and create new financial instruments. These include shoring up transparency and accountability in global transactions and supply chains, and creating alternative, decentralized financial structures that combine reliability with wider accessibility. Ultimately, blockchain can reinforce and build trust between organizations in an era when digital technology is more likely to harm rather than help confidence in institutions. In this presentation, Werbach demystifies blockchain and identifies its real-world value propositions, along with the remaining challenges before it reaches its full potential.

The Future of Technology: The Convergence of Cyber and Physical

AI, blockchain and 5G are each touted as the “next big thing” that will change the world and disrupt business. Yet, even relatively tech-savvy executives admit they do not really know what these technologies are or why they are important. These three seemingly unrelated trends are actually elements of a common mega-trend: automation of the world. In fact, augmented reality (AR), the Internet of Things (IoT) and gamification are part of the same process: the convergence of cyberspace and physical space. To leverage the power of the digital world in the “real” world, we need a brain (AI), a nervous system (5G) and memory (blockchain). Furthering the analogy, IoT is the sensory apparatus, AR is the visual field and gamification is the emotions. They are all mutually reinforcing. In this presentation, Kevin Werbach shows audiences how to leverage investments for maximum benefit by seeing this “big picture” opportunity. Only by understanding the cumulative impact of these emerging technologies will organizations truly realize their value and transformative power.

After the Internet: The Worldwide Web in 10 Years

Today, we take for granted that the majority of humanity is connected in real-time to the global internet, which was the stuff of science fiction 30 years ago. Yet, there is no guarantee there will still be an internet as we know it even 10 years from now. How might the internet fragment, or conversely, how might cyberspace become indistinguishable from the real world? What would be the implications, and how can organizations plan for these scenarios? In this presentation, Kevin Werbach, who has been an active practitioner since the internet’s early days, takes a look at where the web is going over the coming years and decades, and how organizations can remain ahead of the curve.

From Good to GREAT: How to Build Trust in the Digital Age

We are experiencing a global crisis of trust. Technologies such as e-commerce, social media, AI and the sharing economy are increasingly seen as means of exploitation that undermine, rather than reinforce, trust. Many organizations aspire to be ethical and socially responsible, says Kevin Werbach, and yet, good people and companies still frequently wind up doing bad things. How many Silicon Valley giants, for instance, profess to believe in privacy, security and human rights, but are then revealed to be routinely exploiting personal information, allowing data to be compromised or stolen, or aiding authoritarian governments? We need to start focusing less on values than on the ways to act on and implement them. GREAT—Governance, Responsibility, Accountability and Trust—is an integrated framework for organizations that takes advantage of emerging digital technologies. In this presentation, Kevin Werbach shows how organizations can re-establish authentic trust through emerging technologies of blockchain, accountable algorithms and digital identity.

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