Your Brain on AI: Innovating for the future of Neurotech
AI makes us faster. But what is it doing to our brains?
Every time we hand off a task to GPS, a note-taker, or a chatbot, our brains adapt, and not always in our favor. Join us for a candid fireside chat with neuroscientist and founder Mai Nguyen on how to work with AI without losing your edge. We'll also look at what it takes to build brain-health tech that actually works.
What we'll dig into:
Cognitive offloading: what happens to memory and critical thinking when AI does the heavy lifting
Using AI as a thinking partner: getting better results by bringing your own ideas first
Hype vs. science in neurotech: how to spot products that overpromise
Building what's next: why the people doing the science should be the ones building the companies
About Mai (Featured Speaker)
Mai Nguyen, PhD, is CEO and co-founder of OptoCeutics, which develops non-invasive light therapy for Alzheimer's and dementia. She earned her PhD in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, specializing in neuroendocrinology. Her work is personal: it's driven by her own family's experience with cognitive decline. She's also a passionate mentor to emerging scientist-founders, especially those from underrepresented communities.
About Michelle Marzullo (Moderator)
Michelle Marzullo, PhD, is a researcher, educator, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, health, and human connection. She is co-founder and CEO of Hilde, an emerging AI clinical decision-support platform focused on plant-medicine and pharmaceutical interactions, and Chair and Professor of Human Sexuality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. At CIIS, she spearheaded the Master of Science in Critical Sexuality Studies, including its SexTech emphasis, bringing critical inquiry into intimacy, ethics, and human wellbeing into the preparation of future technology leaders. Through her developing partnership with the HAIL Initiative, Michelle is advancing work on AI-mediated intimacy, autonomy, and relational wellbeing. Her Human + Tech Week talk “AI and Human Connection,” explored how AI can strengthen human relationships and flourishing. Bringing together the practical perspective of a health-tech founder and a scholar’s attention to evidence, culture, and human behavior, she is especially well positioned to engage Mai Nguyen in a candid conversation about how AI shapes our thinking, what makes innovation trustworthy, and how to build technologies that expand and elevate human capability.
Who should come: Students, researchers, founders, and anyone curious about the brain, AI, or the future of health tech.
Hosted by Berkeley Gateway Accelerator. Food generously sponsored by Middle East Market.