When the artificial intelligence shaping civilization becomes the subject of conversations, we mostly picture a dystopia of automation and control. But Daniyal Virk ’28 sees it differently. For the director and founder of Cornell Future Civilization Society, AI is something closer to a tool than a threat.
Virk said, "Any tool has the potential to be used both for and against humanity, and AI is not far from that list."
On April 18, CFCS is hosting its Future Civilizations Conference, a multi-panel event that uses a model futuristic city to see how AI will integrate into everyday life — from environmental systems to healthcare to what people wear. The conference won't be abstract or theoretical. Each panel is organized to show a specific dimension of this simulated city, showing what efficient AI might look like in practice and what it would mean for the people living in that futuristic city.
Habiba Khan ’27, a member of the organizing team, put the conference's central question this way: "From healthcare to the fabric of our clothing, this conference asks, ‘What does a truly intelligent city look like, and who does it serve?’"
For Khan and Virk, AI has moved well past asking Siri about scheduling an event on calendar or rewriting essays. They see it on a civilizational scale from the sophisticated technology to the beauty of its art and culture, and they think it's worth taking seriously now.
The conference answers this urgency via separate panels to cover environmental design, healthcare and individual lifestyle, and organizers are expected to host experts and faculty across disciplines to bring their perspectives on the city model from their own angles. Attendees won't just hear a single perspective from the organizers, they'll see through a layered simulation of a world shaped by AI, built out in multiple sessions with experts’ questions and commentaries.
One of the more unexpected panels touches on fashion and clothing. Organizers are drawing inspiration from Maia Hirsch to explore how technology shapes personal style and identity. It’s an important note to consider: The future isn't only about infrastructure and algorithms, it's also about what people choose to wear to a gathering and how that choice might look different in a world built differently.
This is probably the most unique panel of the conference, and honestly the one I didn’t expect to care about as much as I do now. Clothes are not usually where policy, technology or AI conversations go, but maybe they should be.
What we wear is deeply cultural. It shows who we are. If AI is going to change everything in a city from the ground up, it will inevitably change the cultural signals too. Hirsch’s influence on this panel and the message the organizers receive is that the future is aesthetic. And, to me, that’s the most genuinely art-forward thing in this conference — seeing how the experience of living in a future city might be and how similar and different from a contemporary city will the people want to present themselves.
The final panel shifts toward moving the simulation out of Earth and relocating the city model to Mars. It's a move that might sound like an unnecessary addition to the main message the audience will leave with, but it fits the conference's broader logic: If you're going to imagine a future civilization, why stop at Earth?
There is one thing I keep coming back to. A lot of AI optimism, and there's plenty of it, tends to treat efficiency as an end in itself without asking who actually benefits. The conference organizers are clearly excited about what AI can build, and I am too. But what I'm most looking forward to is the moderated debate, where two experts holding opposing views will go head to head on exactly these topics: equity, ethics and policy. That kind of format is rare. Most panels let experts talk at you; this one actually puts the tension on the table. An intelligent city that works beautifully for some people and leaves others behind isn't really a future worth building, and I'm curious to see how two people who probably agree on the destination disagree sharply on how to get there. If that debate is as substantive as it sounds, this could be one of the more meaningful things happening on campus this semester.
Again, the Future Civilizations Conference will take place April 18 in Phillips Hall. It is free and open to the Cornell community.
Abdurrahman Ali is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a contributor for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at aa2478@cornell.edu.
