Speaker · Vancouver 2026

Ben Shneiderman

Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science

University of Maryland

October 28–30 · Vancouver

Futureproof Festival featured speaker square for Ben Shneiderman in a blue and tan plaid shirt beside a long plank table set with mugs and open notebooks in a golden-hour forest clearing, with the BC + AI ecosystem presenter mark.

He wrote the book on human-centered AI. You'll leave with a clear picture of AI that keeps people in charge, and an eye for the designs that do.

Fri 30 · 4:30–5:10 PM

There is No "I" in AI

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Vancouver time · Times may change

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Ben Shneiderman artwork

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About

About Ben Shneiderman

Ben Shneiderman is an Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, where he founded the Human-Computer Interaction Lab and directed it from 1983 to 2000. His direct manipulation concept led to clickable highlighted web links and touchscreen keyboards. He conceived treemaps to see what was filling a hard drive, and Excel added them in 2015; a full set of his treemap art prints went to the Museum of Modern Art. His latest book, Human-Centered AI, won the Association of American Publishers award for Computer and Information Systems. A member of the National Academy of Engineering and an early TED speaker, he now lives in Vancouver and argues for AI that keeps people in control.

At the festival

Where to find Ben

  1. Friday · October 30
    4:30–5:10 PM

    There is No "I" in AI

    The last talk of Futureproof Festival is Ben Shneiderman’s. He wrote the book on human-centered AI, and he closes on designs that hand people more power instead of replacing them. Twenty-five minutes, then fifteen minutes of facilitated questions.

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Times are Vancouver time and can still move. See the full program

Hand-painted Futureproof Festival scene: Squatchie on a snowy switchback under the aurora, carrying half a geode while a raven lifts the other side, the line "Bring The Question You Cannot Solve Alone." lettered into the picture and the festival name drawn as a constellation in the sky
Bring The Question You Cannot Solve Alone.

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