Today, 01.05.2026
Good morning. The Human × AI 2026 programme has been revised. The shape of the day is sharper, the speaker list is longer, and the order in which the conversations build on each other is different in two material ways. The full agenda is live; this is the short version of what changed and why it matters.
In Brief
What: Revised agenda for Human × AI Conference 2026, Vienna, May 19. What changed: Doors now open at 11:00 (lunch and registration), programme starts at 12:00. A new keynote from Colonel Daniel Hikes-Wurm, Senior Advisor for Defence Policy at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence, has been added at 15:20. The Quantum Security conversation has been retitled and expanded to three speakers. The Schmid–Lazarov use case has been retitled to "The Discoverability Layer." The Hannah Wundsam interview on sovereign founders has been added at 12:40, and Wundsam now anchors the Stack panel rather than the Founders panel. What it means: The day now leans harder into the European sovereignty thesis, with a defence-policy voice introduced into a room that was previously weighted toward founders, capital, and cyber.
The Three Material Changes
1. A defence-policy voice enters the room. Colonel Daniel Hikes-Wurm joins the agenda at 15:20 with a ten-minute keynote, "Why Europe Has to Move at AI Speed," and stays on stage for the Quantum Security conversation that follows at 15:30. He works on the security and defence policy implications of artificial intelligence, emerging and disruptive technologies, cyber defence, and hybrid threats at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence. The pairing with Klaus Grössinger (Onsight Ventures) and Rupert Ursin (zerothird) connects the science, the capital, and the doctrine layer in a single conversation.
2. The Stack panel changes shape. "Can Europe Build Its Own Technology Foundation? And Why It Matters for Every Sector" replaces the previous Stack-panel framing. The line-up — Hannah Wundsam (AustrianStartups), Victor Caduc (Proxima), Konstantin Bezuhanov (Evrotrust), moderated by Zoran Arsovski (Verto Digital) — is built around the question of whether the continent can stand on its own technical and entrepreneurial base, not just whether it can buy one. Wundsam also opens the slot before the panel with a ten-minute interview, "If Europe Wants Sovereign AI, It Needs Sovereign Founders First."
3. A retitle that signals a thesis. The Schmid–Lazarov use case is now "The Discoverability Layer: Who Decides What Europe's Customers See." Same speakers, same Rankscale-and-Visibilio working pair, but the framing moves the conversation from generic "AI search" branding toward the structural question — how brand visibility is decided inside generative AI systems and who controls the underlying architecture.
The Numbers That Matter
- 11:00: Doors and registration. New start time, 45 minutes earlier than the previous draft.
- 12:00: Programme opens with Ivan Krastev and Alexei Lazarov on AI as geopolitical actor.
- 15:20–15:55: The new defence-policy block: Hikes-Wurm keynote followed by Quantum Security conversation.
- 18:10: Closing keynote from Maria Stoeva. Same close time as before.
- 15: Total programmed sessions across the day, including two coffee breaks.
What to Do With This
If a session is already in your calendar, the time may have shifted. Each session on the agenda page has its own "Add to calendar" button supporting Google, Outlook, Office 365, Yahoo, and Apple, and the full ICS file is available at the top of the page. Subscribed Google users with multiple accounts can now choose which Google account to save the event to before it leaves the popover.
If you have a colleague who would benefit from being in the room on May 19, the standard ticket is €75 until May 12 at humanxai.events/tickets.
This update was sent because the programme materially changed. Forward to anyone who needs to know. Reply with questions, feedback, or speaker suggestions.