The Impact of Bitcoin and AI on the Freedom of Speech

​Bitcoin, AI & Freedom of Thought

​Giacomo Zucco (entrepreneur and Bitcoin educator) and Barry Smith (professor at the Università della Svizzera Italiana and SUNY Buffalo) will join us in Lugano for a conversation on Bitcoin, artificial intelligence, and their impact on freedom of thought and expression.

​Freedom of speech, thought, and expression—core rights of the human intellect—are increasingly at the center of today’s debates. As technology amplifies our ability to communicate, tensions are rising between those advocating for restrictions to protect certain groups and those defending pluralism as a foundation of a free society.

​In this context, two powerful forces stand out: cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. Both can act as tools of liberation—or as mechanisms of control.

​This event explores that tension, offering a multidisciplinary perspective at the intersection of technology, philosophy, and society.

​Speakers

• ​Giacomo Zucco — Entrepreneur, Bitcoin educator, and promoter of the Plan ₿ initiative in Lugano

• ​Barry Smith — Professor of Philosophy and Ontology at Università della Svizzera Italiana and SUNY Buffalo

​

​​📍 Aula A11 — Campus USI, Palazzo Rosso, Lugano

​​📅 May 8, 2026 — 5:30 PM

​

​Event organized in collaboration with LPU (Law and Politics at USI), Students For Liberty Switzerland, and the Liberal Institute