Illuminators: Notes on Session 4 of TED2024

For Session 4 of TED2024, illuminators from diverse disciplines explored the bright future of their fields. From AI as a digital species to explosive art that climbs into the sky, speakers looked at how light (literally and figuratively) can shape our climate, social interactions, scientific discoveries and more.

The event: Talks from Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, cohosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and executive director of the Audacious Project Anna Verghese

When and where: Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Mustafa Suleyman, Nour E. Rawafi, Millie Chu Baird, Sarah J. Doherty, Sara Giusto, Cai Guo-Qiang

An audacious update: Videos throughout the session provided updates on the Audacious Project’s 2018 cohort, including Girl Trek, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Sightsavers, The Bail Project and Living Goods + Last Mile Health. Learn more about their work.

Performance: Jordan Johnson and Aidan Carberry’s JA Collective perform a hypnotic exploration of movement, alternating between the abrupt and fluid, moving one another across the stage accompanied by stunning visual art.

The talks in brief:

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman offers a vision of a future infused with AGI, proposing that AI’s ubiquity and skillset make it more than just a tool — it should instead be considered a digital species. While the metaphor may not be perfect, he suggests this framework can allow us to better consider how we want AI to grow and where we need to be more cautious.

From sustaining life on Earth to its potential for catastrophic solar storms, astrophysicist Nour E. Rawafi sheds light on why understanding the sun is crucial to our future. He illuminates its enduring mysteries and humanity’s next technological steps to unraveling them — like sending probes on a galactic journey into the atmosphere of our fiery neighbor.

Even though its atmospheric volume is dwarfed by that of CO2, methane is 80 times more effective at trapping heat. Thus, cutting methane emissions is key to tackling climate change, says environmental advocate Millie Chu Baird. With the help of a new satellite called MethaneSAT, supported by the Audacious Project, she hopes to improve ourunderstanding of where all that methane comes from as well as our ability to address its impacts.

Aerosol emissions are responsible for the deaths of between four and 10 million people, but they also cool the planet (by about half a degree, scientists estimate) by making clouds more reflective, bouncing sunlight back into space. Atmospheric scientist Sarah J. Doherty explains how we might both reduce pollution and lower temperatures by replacing toxic aerosols with their natural counterparts.

Sara Giusto is a talent manager — but not in the way you might imagine. Her biggest client is imma: a pink-bobbed, CGI-created “virtual human” influencer. Giusto shares how imma’s influence extends to real-world issues and emotions, raising an important question: In an increasingly virtual world, what’s really real?

Speaking in Mandarin translated live with an AI-generated imitation of his voice powered by technology from Metaphysic, multidisciplinary artist Cai Guo-Qiang shares how he creates captivating spectacles from gunpowder and fireworks, enchanting audiences worldwide with scenes of alien footprints, mushroom clouds and more.

TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.