Explore the Human Edge in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Philly AI Connect hosted an AI-themed event at the University of Pennsylvania’s Pennovation Center on March 5, 2026. It featured 2 AI-centric programs and a networking session.

The program ‘The Human Edge in the Age of AI’ was hosted by keynote speaker Kavin Mistry, a board-certified neuroradiologist, neuroscientist, educator, and thought leader focused on health, human performance, primal intelligence, and the inner skills required to thrive as technology accelerates. His work brings clinical clarity, neuroscience, and a deeply human perspective to a central question of this decade: What must we strengthen in ourselves as our tools become more powerful?

Here are some highlights from the keynote presentation:

• The reason why ChatGPT has expanded so fast is that “it makes you feel like you are the smartest person on earth.” It is designed to try to please the user through its tone and nature of responses.

• Humans switch tasks almost every 47 seconds (specifically in reference to screen-based activity).

• The human attention span is decreasing and it is now down to 8 seconds, which is less than a goldfish.

• AI is getting smarter and will continue to advance, so the question is - Who are humans becoming through the process?

• If AI or any technology can do your job better or faster - ask yourself: What is my value as a human that I am bringing to the table?

• Human value is well beyond the functionality of our individual jobs; it can be things that AI can’t provide like presence.

• AI isn’t going to replace humans, but it can replace humans that are disconnected from other humans and their human potential (people that have lost touch with their humanity).

• HUMAN (acronym)

  • Here - the ability to be present.

  • Undistracted - instead of knowing a little about a lot of things, be knowledgeable about a few specific things. Developing mastery allows people to innovate in their space.

  • Meaningfully driven - connect their meaningful drive to their work so that it has purpose and passion.

  • Alighed with others - there is value in creating teams and cultures of trust, collaboration moves things forward.

  • Never forgotten -chasing a larger cause or larger vision.

• These 5 skills aren’t soft skills, they are survival skills in the age of AI – and they create a framework for continuing to be human.

• Dr. Mistry shared his PrimAI Pilot Group, discussing how humans can use technology to improve their individual humanity.

• He shared the Presence Formula shown below.

  

• He described a pleasant customer service experience that he had at Trader Joe’s illustrating the impact that presence can have.

• In acting school at the beginning they always teach the importance of presence.

• If people aren’t thinking about what is happening right in front of them - they are lacking presence. Breath awareness is one way to focus on presence. It allows people to feel the room, and it helps people to be in a better position to react.

• Many people today are connecting less and less in person, have less eye contact, are communicating more digitally. The presence formula is one way to address it.

• Humans are advancing technology at a fast rate, but humans also need to advance humanity.

• Develop a cause large enough that you are never forgotten.

The second portion of the event was a panel discussion. Here are some key points from the discussion:

• The panelists discussed the importance of the human element – something AI cannot provide.

• Dominic Chianese

  • “Connection is stronger than addiction,” he said, noting that connection isn’t replaceable by AI. AI cannot hug you. How could people determine its consciousness?

  • AI doesn’t have an imagination. It cannot experience similar things to humans such as pain, growing hair, being pregnant, etc. It isn’t capable of making that connection.

  • Many people are disengaged because they aren’t driven by what they are doing at work.

• Meenal Lele

  • Very few people look at a problem, create a solution as well as a company out of it.

  • AI models may tell you that something you are working toward isn’t possible because the output is based on existing information, does not consider innovation.

  • Being focused on something that you want to do and build is important and is a human element that differentiates us from AI.

• Dr Robert Fournier

  • He spoke about some of the advanced technology that medical professionals are using to be more efficient and accurate.

  • People don’t follow companies, they fellow causes.

• Edwin DeSamour

  • Sometimes people because data and stats, but we need humanity. AI can’t see that in humans.

  • He is working to revitalize his community and he’s been able to engage the people, communicate, be present and bring humanity.

  • He described how human contact has made a difference in his life.

  • People should ask themselves: What can AI not replace? Consider ways that you can leverage the human element with AI as a tool.

  • AI is being designed to appear human, but it must be kept in perspective as a tool.

• Dr. Kavin Mistry

  • “The world moving forward is going to be humans augmented by AI, and we’ll leverage technology to be more human,” he said.

  • Humans need to empower their brains and technology.

To see more event photos and slides from the two presentations, click here.

Philly AI Connect regularly hosts events with speakers, Q&A sessions, networking and product demonstrations across the Philadelphia area. Their goal is "to build a thriving community of minds dedicated to advancing AI and ML technology and its sophistication of use in and beyond the city of Philadelphia.” Click here for more information.

I also wrote an article about a previous Philly AI Connect event here - The Agentic AI Shift-From Tool to Teammate

Andrew C. Belton, MBA is a Marketing, Proposal and Content Management Professional, Writer and Owner of Symmetrical Media Marketing where he helps small businesses to create effective digital marketing strategies. He has been featured in LinkedIn News, LinkedIn Pulse, Startup Stash, Venture and Business2Community. He is a Philadelphia native, West Chester University of Pennsylvania graduate and is passionate about helping small businesses, education and challenging the limits of technology and communications.