The race to develop and deploy artificial intelligence has led innovation to outpace ethical inquiry. Running with Scissors: AI and the Race for the Future explores the risks of prioritizing speed over responsibility and the ethical safeguards needed to ensure a better future for humanity. Featuring perspectives from UT Austin researchers, students, and local industry leaders, the documentary examines how society can guide AI development in ways that reflect human values. Â
Join Ethics Unwrapped and Good Systems for a screening of the film, followed by Q&A with a panel of experts from the documentary.  Â
Self-Parking is available in the Conference Center Garage.
Robert Prentice is a professor in the Department of Business, Government & Society at the McCombs School Business at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a contributor to the Ethics Unwrapped Video Series and Educational Program in the Center for Leadership & Ethics at McCombs.Â
He has received from his discipline’s professional organization, the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, both the early career award (1984) and the lifetime achievement award (2015). He has published more than 70 journal articles and has received more than 60 teaching awards. He is an inaugural member of both the University of Texas at Austin’s and the UT System’s Academies of Distinguished Teachers.Â
Emily (Norman) Economy conducts human subjects research at the intersection of Communication Studies and Human-Robot Interaction. Her time as a doctoral student at The University of Texas at Austin has given her a deep appreciation for the opportunities, collaborations, and communicative complexities that arise as humans and robots increasingly live and work together.Â
Emily has served as both a research assistant and lead research assistant on a transdisciplinary, multi-million-dollar NSF-funded research project, and has co-authored work published in Transactions on Human Robot Interaction and featured in Science Robotics. She has also participated in professional development programs alongside other career-focused UT graduate students and is currently involved with the UT Good Systems Grand Challenge project, "Living and Working with Robots."Â
Her research experience spans both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including conducting approximately 100 interviews, administering surveys, and designing and carrying out experimental laboratory studies. She has presented her work multiple times at the National Communication Association Conference, IEEE RO-MAN, and is a co-author on work published in Transactions on Human Robot Interaction and featured in Science Robotics.
Emily's work takes a human-centered perspective, seeking to understand how interaction, communication, and power shape everyday relationships with machines. Her research focuses on the ways humans and robots communicate, collaborate, and coexist, with particular attention to the social dynamics that influence these interactions.Â
Sherri R. Greenberg is a professor of practice and fellow of the Max Sherman Chair in State and Local Government at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and she is a professor of practice at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Additionally, she is the LBJ School Assistant Dean for State and Local Government Engagement. She is a primary researcher for Good Systems – Ethical AI at UT Austin. 
Greenberg is a member of the Board of the Austin Convention Center Enterprise. She also serves on the Austin Smart City Alliance Board of Directors, and the Austin Forum on Technology & Society Advisory Board. Â
Greenberg has served as a senior advisor to Austin Mayor Steve Adler. She was a Texas state representative from 1991 to 2001, and she chaired the House Pensions and Investments Committee and the Select Committee on Teacher Health Insurance. She also served on the House Appropriations, Economic Development, Elections, and Science and Technology Committees. Â
Her teaching and research interests include technology policy, state and local government, housing, homelessness, transportation, healthcare, public finance, and campaigns and elections. 
Benjamin has over 30 years in the practice and science of organizational transformation. He is the former Director of AI Strategy at Vista Equity Partners and the first Chief Analytics Officer at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Ben received his BA from Harvard University and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.
Truchard  Foundation Chair in Computer Science and Head of the School of Computing
College of Natural Sciences
Dr. Peter Stone holds the Truchard Foundation Chair in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. He is Head of the School of Computing, as well as Founding Director of Texas Robotics. In 2013 he was awarded the University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award and in 2014 he was inducted into the UT Austin Academy of Distinguished Teachers, earning him the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor.
Professor Stone's research interests in Artificial Intelligence include machine learning (especially reinforcement learning), multiagent systems, and robotics. Professor Stone received his Ph.D in Computer Science in 1998 from Carnegie Mellon University. From 1999 to 2002 he was a Senior Technical Staff Member in the Artificial Intelligence Principles Research Department at AT&T Labs - Research. He is an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, AAAI Fellow, IEEE Fellow, AAAS Fellow, ACM Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, and 2004 ONR Young Investigator.
In 2007 he received the prestigious IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, given biannually to the top AI researcher under the age of 35, in 2016 he was awarded the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award, and in 2024 he was awarded the ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award. Professor Stone co-founded Cogitai, Inc., a startup company focused on continual learning, in 2015, and currently serves as Chief Scientist of Sony AI.
