Emerging from the curtains on the first night of Crooked Con, like a reliever trotting onto the field in the bottom of the ninth, was none other than Barack Obama. He was the surprise guest on a live episode of Pod Save America, the flagship podcast of Crooked Media-a content studio founded by the quartet of ex-Obama staffers and speechwriters Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer, who produced this convention.
Dr. Lora Aroyo, Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, argues that this assumption no longer holds up. Her research at the intersection of data-centric AI and pluralistic alignment challenges the binary worldview that underpins most AI systems. Instead of seeking a single "gold standard" answer, she advocates for embracing disagreement, diversity, and pluralism as the foundation of more reliable, culturally aware AI.
We've been swimming in the 1960s for decades, replaying the era like a classic-rock album. The artistic movements that came out of that time remain as fixed as the stars: Pop, minimalism, conceptualism, Land Art, feminism. Over the years, curators have mounted endless tributes to Warhol and his circle, Judd and his boxes, Hesse and her synthetic materials. Many of these artists are good, some great. But most of the shows border on boring.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has faced a lot of backlash recently. Once celebrated as a win-win solution that tackled systemic injustice and boosted business performance, DEI has become politicized and scrutinized within an inch of its life. As it was happening, those of us working to advance DEI didn't adjust as the ground shifted beneath our feet. DEI was recast as an anti-meritocratic overreach that prioritized identity over skills or qualifications.