TED 2023: How the “Birds Aren’t Real” Conspiracy Parody Became a Compassion Movement

What the comedy project's founder, Peter McIndoe, learned about embodying, understanding and dealing with the fringe

Six years ago, Peter McIndoe fell into character as the leader of the parody conspiracy theory called Birds Aren’t Real. On a whim, the now 24-year-old college dropout created a character who, at least publicly, espoused the belief that the US government murdered more than 12 billion birds between 1969 and 2001 and replaced them with robotic replicas designed to spy on the American people. …

TED 2023: The Future of AI Cannot Be Modeled

This year’s theme, “Possibility,” highlights the controversy around developing responsible, safe, unbiased and accurate AI

Artificial Intelligence is a global topic as innovators and tech giants like OpenAI, Google and Microsoft work toward increasingly intelligent chatbots and artificial systems that leverage the trove of information that exists on the web today, alongside predictive models and deep neural networks. Touted as one of the biggest tech disruptions and innovations since the invention of the internet, it’s no wonder that AI, in …

Interview: Artist and TED Fellow Constance Hockaday

An enlightening six-minute discourse on organizational leadership development and artistry

Last week, artist Constance Hockaday‘s illuminating TED Talk, which we initially observed in April 2022, debuted online. Hockaday, among other imaginative accolades, created NYC’s Boggsville Boatel and Boat-In Theater and founded Artists-in-Presidents, an empowering series of “leadership makeovers” featuring inclusive public addresses, performances and portraiture of diverse people in power. Within her inspiring discourse at TED, the prolific creator directly addresses a path toward personal agency. Hockaday’s method for determining …