Transcriber: Camilo Paez Reviewer: Emma Gon Now, what would you all say if I told you I could give you back one hour every single day? Sounds enticing, isn’t it? Well, let me give you one more perspective. In the past week, as simple smartphone users, we have saved collectively approximately 36,000 years. And if you take the last ten years, we probably saved enough time to go back and see the dinosaurs. This story today is a story that’s going to go from heart to heart, as my grandma used to say. It is a story that is deeply intertwined with myself, with each one of you, and with these times of unprecedented technological advancements. This narrative for me began 11 years ago, when my father was diagnosed with leukemia. It was a jarring moment that put a hard brake on my entire life. And amidst his struggle, our struggle, the value of time became evident to me like never before. With six months to live, according to the doctors at the time, I saw the face of my lifetime hero change for the briefest of moments and fall. And there isn’t much to blame, is it? Except, in the span of a heartbeat, he shook himself up, he looked me in the eyes and told me, “Well, son, time is of the essence.” Days, weeks, months, years passed by I witnessed firsthand the strength of a man determined to be there for his family and honestly cheered the world around him with every single moment. Two years ago, I’ve lost my father. Every moment I spent with him, every laugh, every piece of wisdom that he shared with me became instantaneous treasures of time. And for me, for me, they serve as a poignant reminder of the value of every single day. And armed with this energy, with my memories of my dad and being the ever geek that I am, If we are honest, I’ve started coming through some very interesting research. And the one piece that I want to bring here in front of you today is that of Manchester based mathematician and fellow TED speaker, Katie Steckles. She discovered that the average UK individual saves every single week, approximately 6.5 hours. That is a staggering two full weeks every year on tasks such as internet banking, online food shopping, satellite navigation, self-service checkouts, and you name them, because there are a lot of them. From mundane tasks to complex operations, technology has started to steadily chip away at ours, granting us pockets of time. And the question that I posed to you today is, what are we doing with all of that time? With the advent of AI now, a thought I very often hear is I am going to become ten times more productive in my workday and whatever. And it is an enticing thought, isn't it? Supercharged efficiency, being able to complete tasks at breakneck speeds and just being able to do more in the same time. But as I started to delve deeper in this new technological advancement, an audacious thought struck me and I’m sure thousands of others around the globe. A thought that we haven’t properly explored ever since the industrial era. What if, just what if, this time, we don’t need to be more productive? What if this time we can actually create a life that is more meaningful, that with experiences that we can enjoy more and more? Look, we are all becoming more tired, more stressed, more stretched every single day. And I know a lot of you here can feel it, can’t you? Well, you’re not alone. According to a study done by Asana in 2023, this year, 8 out in 10 Gen Z’s, 7 out in 10 millennials and 5 out in 10 baby boomers report burnout and signs of burnout. And that is, those are some numbers that should absolutely scare us. They should absolutely scare us. But on the other side of this, the World Economic Forum comes and they predict that half of the world tasks by 2025 are going be completed by either machinery or technology. And that should, in theory, give us humans the time to enjoy life. To take it step by step and enjoy every single one of these. We said, as I believe it, at least at the brink of tomorrow, and we are looking at a Renaissance era, the Renaissance era of technology, as I like to call it, especially now as we're getting closer and closer and closer to the escape velocity point of AI. AI is going to reshape the very fabric of society, whether we like it or not. But with our guidance and translation, it can actually understand our personalized needs, and it puts us into the driver’s seat of reforging human experiences over all. Of us, being able to actually do what and how we want to do, and to be able to be brilliant and creative at our very own pace. Look, we live in a world where we constantly navigate change, pressure, stress, conflict. From the unsettling tremors of geopolitical unrest to a global pandemic, to day to day tragedies, and all the way to this technology like reshifting everything that we know, we live in a really restless era. But in my last 12 years, throughout the tech industry, watching corporations, start ups, individual and I’m out there with everything, trust me. I have started to see a seismic shift, if you will. Previously, we looked at the market, identified a need or a problem, and we tried to address it. And we have done that for decades and it worked. But slowly, step by step, I’ve started to notice a change. We are actually starting to solve problems and address needs before they actually appear. And I come here today hopeful that this means humanity as a whole is making an absolutely gorgeous move from reaction to proaction. And I can give you some example of that, by the way, in my last company at Adobe, we started building products to address the needs of day to day users, like being able to build a birthday card easily for your four year old daughter, or just removing that guy from the background that just photobombed your photo, right? And now, as I moved over to sneak, we are building a complete set of solutions that its purpose is to remove completely the need for developers around the world to look at security at all. We're going to be there for them right before they need it, right? So again, I believe we now sit at the very brink of tomorrow, a tomorrow that by tapping into our empathy, into our emotions, by listening to those around us, we can actually build products that cater to our needs. We are sitting at the beginning of a Renaissance era. And just like the Italians got with their Renaissance era, when trade bloomed and they had a lot of wealth and free time, technology has started to give us free time, and it is creating wealth at a dazzling speed, and it will only become faster and faster and faster Now, this I believe, is our chance to reconnect ourselves to our core feelings, to our emotions, to our empathy. I believe in this world as it sits right now with all this technology that surfaces, this world has everything it needs for us to work towards united front instead of brewing conflict. A world where we can create our own works of wonder. We can create our own Leonardo da Vinci, our own Raphael, our own Michelangelo. Look, these past few years have not been particularly kind on me. But here I am today in front of all of you, and I’m reaching out to say, Students, professors, workers, entrepreneurs, politicians. As we sit at the brink of this new era, let's tap into our emotions, into our empathy, into our capability to understand each other. In order to make this a golden one, let’s build products and policies that proactively cater to human needs and emotions. Let’s set new directions that are actually harbingers of a better future. A future where technology not only makes us more efficient, more productive, but it actually makes our life profoundly meaningful and resonant. I know that this might just be the dream of a humble man that sits here in front of you. But if we really look at it, this all is happening right here around us. From the time you get back to the beautiful memories with my dad, to technology changing everything that we know, this moment is here, right now, all we have to do is get out of the couch, break outside the boxes created on us by social media, politics, television, or whatever, and just seize out and grab this moment. Look, studies like the one from Asana paint a very worrying picture. But to all of you out there who are feeling tired, who are feeling stressed, who are feeling stretched out, please do not forget what this is really about. Do not forget what this technological empowerment should really be doing for us. And it really isn’t, I can promise you, about becoming more efficient. It's not about becoming more productive. It’s not about cramming more into the same time. What it is about is that friend from high school that you used to love, but you completely lost contact with. It's about your brother and your sister, and the smile on their faces as you go and give them their birthday gift. It’s about your partners, it’s about your parents and the pride that they feel toward you. But it can also be as simple as about the book you read, and it gives you peace and quiet, or the moments that you play with your dog or take a walk in the park. Look in this world that is constantly chasing us for efficiency, in this world that would rather see me become more productive than actually spend that invaluable time with my dad. What are you going to do to make this life of ours, your life, our lives, more profound, more meaningful? I cannot wait to see it. Thank you. (Applause)