Using AI Well — and Building a Data Infrastructure to Support It
Friday, March 6, 2026
8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. MT
University of Colorado Law School
The Silicon Flatirons Artificial Intelligence Initiative examines the impact of AI on law, the legal system, and society by bringing together thought-leaders from academia, government, business, and non-profits, to engage in rigorous, evidence-based and thoughtful discussions of AI public policy.
Our 2026 Artificial Intelligence Conference, “Using AI Well — and Building the Data Infrastructure to Support It,” will explore why AI really matters and what we can do to make the most of it, including by building the “data infrastructure” to support its responsible expansion.
The day-long conference will take place in Boulder on Friday, March 6, 2026. Our morning agenda will focus keynote remarks and panel discussion on how AI is already transforming the way we live, work, and recreate by focusing on established use cases and emerging best practices in using AI well.
Following a lunchtime networking break, the afternoon will forego the hype around AI enthusiasts and doomsayers alike, instead focusing attention on the imperative to approach AI data infrastructure deployment in a manner that optimizes economic competitiveness and quality of life. Keynote remarks will frame the conversation accordingly, with complementary panel discussions that balance exploring various “demand” considerations driving data infrastructure investment and expansion with “supply” perspectives examining how resource and regulatory approaches — in energy, environment, water and land use — can responsibly coalesce to meet this historic moment and, above all, to get it right.
A lunch hour primer will be held on March 5, the day prior to the conference. Learn more about Powering AI: Data Centers, Energy Demand, and the Public Interest.
Sessions
Check-in and Breakfast
@ Wolf Law Building, Foyer and Boettcher Hall
Welcome
@ Wolf Law Building, Wittemyer Courtroom & Livestream
Executive Director, Silicon Flatirons
Keynote: Using AI Well
Our morning agenda explores how AI is already transforming the way we live, work, and recreate by focusing on established use cases and emerging best practices in using AI well.
Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School
Established Use Cases in Using AI Well
AI has long been central to trust and safety work, powering content moderation, fraud detection, and child protection. These uses of AI rarely get the same public attention as the harms to which AI can contribute online. Panelists will offer a practitioner’s view of how AI is being used in trust and safety, and the new opportunities and challenges that generative AI provides.
(Moderator)
Executive Director, Digital Trust & Safety Partnership
VP Trust & Safety, Tripadvisor
VP, Research & Strategic Impact, Thorn
Co-Founder, Zentropi, Inc.
Break
Emerging Best Practices in Using AI Well
This panel will explore emerging best practices for nudging AI toward a more positive future highlighting constructive governance approaches, norms, and processes that are likely to amplify beneficial use cases often overlooked in media and academic debates.
(Moderator)
Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School
Founder Women in AI Labs, Women in AI Colorado
Senior Lecturer & Director of Law and Technology Initiatives, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law & McCormick School of Engineering
Director – Responsible AI, Slalom
Associate Professor of Media Studies, CU Boulder
Lunch Break
Framing Remarks: Building a Data Infrastructure for the Future
Discussion will forego the hype around AI enthusiasts and doomsayers alike, instead framing the imperative of AI data infrastructure deployment in a manner that optimizes economic competitiveness and quality of life.
Executive Director, Silicon Flatirons
The Demand Side of Big Data
Discussion will explore how a dramatic increase in compute demand is pushing data center investment and resource consumption – and how we all have a stake in the outcome.
(Moderator)
Senior Research Associate, University of Colorado Boulder
Director, Burns & McDonnell
Director of Data Center Research, CBRE
Partner, Keller & Heckman
Member, Clark Hill, PLC
Break
The Supply Side of Big Data
Discussion will examine how resource and regulatory approaches — in energy, environment, water and land use — can responsibly coalesce to meet this historic moment and, above all, to get it right.
(Moderator)
Executive Director, Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment
General Manager, Aurora Water
RVP, Regulatory Policy, Xcel Energy
Deputy Director of Policy Development, Clean Energy, Western Resource Advocates
Director of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission
Closing Remarks
Reception
@ Wolf Law Building, Foyer and Boettcher Hall