Journalist Nicholas Thompson and legal scholar Nita Farahany will share the stage for a provocative discussion about artificial intelligence on Nov. 16 as part of UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series.

The discussion, titled “AI and the Future of Everything,” will take place at 7 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

Before serving as CEO of The Atlantic, Thompson was editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine, where he broke significant stories about cyber-warfare, the Robert Mueller investigation and numerous other topics. His groundbreaking investigative reporting on Facebook was a finalist for a 2020 Loeb Award, and he oversaw work that won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Magazine Award.

Since Thompson joined The Atlantic as CEO, the magazine earned the top honor of General Excellence at the National Magazine Awards in 2022 and 2023, and was named Digiday’s Publisher of the Year in 2022. This journalistic excellence has been paired with growth across the company, including record subscriber growth for the third straight year, and the publication of the magazine’s entire archive, dating back to 1857, online for the first time.

Farahany, the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke University and founding director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, is a leading scholar on the ethical, legal and social implications of emerging technologies.

She was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. She currently serves on the National Advisory Council for the National Institute for Neurological Disease and Stroke, as an elected member of the American Law Institute and on the Global Future Council on Frontier Risks for the World Economic Forum, among others. Her publications include the book “The Battle for Your Brain: Defending Your Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology.”

Tickets for Thompson’s and Farahany’s appearance range from $30 to $50 and can be purchased online through Ticketmaster or in person at the Center for the Arts Box Office from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

For more information about the series, visit the series’ website.