Field Notes From the Rooms Where AI Gets Real

Abstract

AI gets real in rooms, not headlines. This fast-paced talk brings short stories from the field: boardrooms, classrooms, community halls, startups, creative studios, newsrooms, and public-sector conversations where AI decisions actually get made.

Kris Krüg has spent the last two years helping very different groups — journalists, artists, boards, educators, founders, and community organizers — move from anxiety and hot takes into practical choices. This is not a hype talk and not a panic room. It is about what people get wrong, what changes minds, and what it takes to move from disruption to direction without losing legitimacy.

The pattern is slower and more useful than “AI good” or “AI bad”: name the fear, show the receipts, protect human judgment, build a small loop, and leave people with one thing they can do next.

Key Takeaways

• The mistakes people keep making when AI moves from demo to decision

• A field-tested pattern for moving groups from anxiety into useful action

• How to keep legitimacy intact with transparency, consent, evidence, and human judgment