AI Builders: Workforce Transformation Opportunities + Challenges
We're hosting a symposium for founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders building AI that affects how people work.
Details:
July 15, 2025 in San Francisco
1:30pm PT to 4:30pm PT
Curated group, invitation only
Chatham House rules
Cocktail reception to follow
What we'll dig into together:
Accelerating market adoption: How startups are turning workforce engagement into competitive advantage and faster growth
Real usage data and insights: AI adoption patterns, worker transition experiences, and potential labor market scenarios
Economic transformation + American competitiveness: How individual company decisions affect broader economic transformation, America's competitive position, and America's social fabric
Skills transformation opportunities: Technical and business model innovations that create new revenue streams while solving skills mismatch
Why this matters to startup success: AI is transforming how we work and creating massive new opportunities. Founders will be criticized no matter what they build. Either for moving too fast or too slow, caring too much or too little. The pragmatic path is preparation. Acknowledging the challenges that may lay ahead. Looking around corners and understanding transformation dynamics. Building sustainable businesses that win while helping workers thrive in the AI economy. And informing public policies that accelerate and support worker retraining and transition.
This conversation practices inversion: Companies that think through workforce transition will build faster, scale smoother, avoid expensive problems, and risk overly broad regulation. Those ignoring these dynamics will face predictable friction and delays. Smart builders identify patterns that kill both commercial success and public support. The smartest builders are positioning for both rapid scaling and broad support.
Full agenda forthcoming. Confirmed speakers:
Hemant Taneja, CEO, General Catalyst
Jake Sullivan, Former U.S. National Security Advisor
Munjal Shah, CEO + Co-Founder, Hippocratic AI
Ryan Wang, CEO + Co-Founder, Assembled
Jenny Song, CEO + Co-Founder, Infilla
John Mannes, Basis Set Ventures
Brent Orrell, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Seth Harris, Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor and Senior Fellow, Burnes Center for Social Change
Terah Lyons, Managing Director & Global Head of AI & Data Policy, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
James Cham, Bloomberg Beta
If you’re a founder, preparation reinforces your competitive advantage: You're building AI that works at scale. The companies positioned to win the largest market share understand that: worker engagement drives business success and customer satisfaction, skills transformation creates new revenue opportunities, and proactive policy engagement prevents regulatory friction.
Startups with real usage data and customer insights have the clearest view of what workforce transformation actually looks like. Ignoring these dynamics won't make them disappear; it makes them more expensive to address later.
Apply above: We're looking for founders, investors, ecosystem leaders, and workforce experts with real experience building and scaling AI products or studying workforce transformation.
Best suited for builders interested in adoption dynamics and regulatory landscape.
We look forward to what emerges when a curated group of builders, investors, and ecosystem leaders work through these challenges together.
Organized by Responsible Innovation Labs
About Responsible Innovation Labs: Supporting founders building category-defining, society-positive companies through coaching, content, and community. Responsible Innovation Labs was founded by Diede van Lamoen (former Stripe, Commure), Jon Zieger (former Stripe, Microsoft), and Hemant Taneja (General Catalyst). Responsible Innovation Labs is led by Gaurab Bansal (former White House). Seed funding from Pivotal Ventures, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Omidyar Network.