The Paradoxes of Urgency: Impressions from the 2026 Ashby Workshops

We created Ashby because we genuinely believe that we are at an inflection point with AI, where the decisions we make now to guide this technology will determine what the AI future looks like: for us, our kids, and generations to come.

At Ashby, we convene the top thinkers across sectors shaping — and shaped by — AI, tackle the biggest challenges and opportunities uniquely raised by this technology, and surface concrete policy and technical solutions. Ashby provides a rare opportunity to identify the key tensions and forces shaping the AI conversation, and to do something about them.

Early next month, we’ll be releasing our full Ashby Report. But in this post, we lay out the insights that most struck us.