HUMAN AGENCY IN THE AGE OF AI (In Person - Atlanta)
HUMAN AGENCY IN THE AGE OF AI
Education, Judgment, Governance, and Responsible AI Adoption
December 12, 2026 | 1:00 PM ET
A live, two-city panel connecting ECPI University in Atlanta, Georgia, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, with virtual participation available via Zoom.
1:00–1:30 PM ET — Arrival & Networking
1:30–2:30 PM ET — Formal 60-minute panel
2:30–3:00 PM ET — Informal networking, follow-up questions, and attendee conversation
The central question:
How do we capture the value of AI while preserving human judgment, knowledge, skills, responsibility, and agency?
AI can expand productivity, learning, professional capability, and decision-making. But it can also create excessive dependence, weaken critical thinking, reduce accountability, and gradually replace capabilities that should remain meaningfully human.
This panel will bring together perspectives from AI engineering, enterprise data, academia, AI education and ethics, institutional leadership, and human-centered AI governance.
Featured Atlanta Panelists:
Joe Arana — Founder & Council Chair, Human Agency in AI Council | AI Professor | AI Strategy & Governance Advisor
Gerry White — Dean of Academic Technology, ECPI University | Human-Centered AI & Education Futurist
Erick Vargas — Senior AI & Technology Professional in the global vertical transportation industry, with deep expertise in engineering, advanced systems, and chip programming.
Vinay Chowdary Vemuri — Senior AI & Data Consultant in the global pharmaceutical sector, specializing in enterprise data engineering, artificial intelligence, and scalable business solutions.
Additional panelists from Virginia Beach will contribute academic and institutional perspectives.
The discussion will be moderated by Mark Michelson, Southeast Regional Director of The AI Collective.
Participate:
Atlanta, Georgia ECPI University — Atlanta Campus
Virginia Beach, Virginia ECPI University — Virginia Beach Campus
Virtual: Join via Zoom from anywhere in the U.S. or internationally.
Registration:
The event is free, but advance registration is required for both in-person and virtual participation.
Hosted by ECPI University and the Human Agency in AI Council (HAAIC), with participation from The AI Collective communities in Atlanta and Virginia Beach.
Our objective is not to resist AI. It is to ensure that AI augments human capability rather than diminishing it.