Main Logo
San FranciscoAmsterdam
April 6-9, 2026
Builders
Builders
APRIL 8
2:10 - 2:30 PM
Agentic AI Pavilion Lighting Talk

Beyond the Black Box: Building AI Systems Humans Can Actually Trust

As AI systems evolve from narrow task-specfic models to autonomous, agentic architectures capable of perception, reasoning, and execution, trust becomes an operational requirement. The question facing leaders is no longer whether AI can perform, but whether its decisions are inspectable, governable, and aligned under real-world conditions.  In this session, Stefanos Poulis, Chief Technology and AI Officer at Seekr, draws on Seekr’s work in explainable AI (xAI), decision transparency, and human-in-the-loop system design to outline a modern blueprint for trusted agentic systems. He will unpacks why static governance frameworks and post-hoc oversight mechanisms break down in adaptive, multi-agent environments and how embedding contestability, steerability, and structured human feedback directly into system architecture enables continuous oversight, calibrated autonomy, and durable alignment.  This talk bridges technical rigor with operational reality, offering a systems-level perspective on building AI that organizations can confidently deploy, audit, and scale.  From this session, you will learn how to:  Diagnose where traditional AI governance models fail when autonomous agents make and execute decisions end-to-end. Design agentic systems with built-in contestability and steerability, enabling humans to challenge, override, and guide model behavior over time. Operationalize transparency and feedback loops within production AI workflows to support monitoring, auditing, performance assurance, and continuous improvement.
Best for:
Technology
Sponsored by Seekr
Seekr
Presented by
Stefanos Poulis
Chief Technology & AI Officer
Seekr

Concurrent Sessions

You may enjoy these other sessions happening at the same time.

Main2:00 PM - 2:20 PM
What It Takes to Win the Fortune 100 in the AI Era
Justin Wexler
Justin WexlerWndrCo
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey KatzenbergWndrCo
Ndidi Oteh
Ndidi OtehAccenture
Adi Ignatius
Adi IgnatiusHarvard Business School Publishing Corporation
LEARN MORE
Main2:20 PM - 2:40 PM
Salesforce & Slack on Orchestrating Agents at Work
Madhav Thattai
Madhav ThattaiSalesforce
Rob Seaman
Rob SeamanSlack
LEARN MORE
Builders2:10 PM - 2:35 PM
What Do Developers Need to Ship AI Faster?
Merrill Lutsky
Merrill LutskyGraphite
Jessica Reeves
Jessica ReevesAxoniq
Howie Xu
Howie XuGen
Jason Hiner
Jason HinerThe Deep View
LEARN MORE
Builders2:15 PM - 2:55 PM
Q&A with Michael Johnson & Kobie Fuller General Partner at Upfront Ventures
Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson13 time Olympic and World Champion
Kobie Fuller
Kobie FullerUpfront Ventures
LEARN MORE
Command Desk2:15 PM - 2:55 PM
Q&A with Neal Stephenson, Author & Founder at Whenere & Andy Konwinski, Co-founder at Perplexity, Databricks, & Laude
Neal Stephenson
Neal StephensonWhenere
Andy Konwinski
Andy KonwinskiPerplexity, Databricks, & Laude
LEARN MORE
Builders2:00 PM - 2:40 PM
Roundtable | The Hardware Moat: Why the Global Humanoid Race Runs Through China?
Esther Wong
Esther Wong3C AGI Partners
LEARN MORE
Ecosystem2:00 PM - 2:40 PM
Roundtable | Metadata is the New Currency
Soyoung Lee
Soyoung LeeTwelve Labs
LEARN MORE
Ecosystem2:00 PM - 2:40 PM
Roundtable | How to develop and nurture your unique ecosystem
Tiffany Luck
Tiffany LuckNEA
LEARN MORE
Builders1:30 PM - 2:15 PM
IBM Ventures: Where Startups Scale with Enterprise
Sponsored by IBM
IBM
LEARN MORE
Builders2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
Let’s Build a Startup in 45 Mins: A Live AI Experiment
Sponsored by Agen.co by Frontegg
Agen.co by Frontegg
LEARN MORE
Customer Engine2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
Growth Is a Team Sport: Aligning Product, Marketing, and Tech
Sponsored by Iterable
Iterable
LEARN MORE
Ecosystem1:10 PM - 3:00 PM
Mayfield Pitch Competition
Sponsored by Mayfield
Mayfield
LEARN MORE

Ready to Be Part of It?

Don't miss out on the premier AI event of the year! Get your tickets now and be part of the future of technology!

GET TICKETS