Conducting Business: The Future of AI

At the Edinburgh International Festival, we believe art should spark conversation and reflection.

In February 2026, we held our second Conducting Business event. February's discussion was inspired by the themes of Mere Mortals from San Francisco Ballet, the Pandora’s Box myth reimagined in the age of AI. The performance has its European Premiere at the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival.

Mere Mortals explores the evolving relationship between humans and technology, using the language of ballet to examine questions of control, authorship and creation.

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This is the fastest pace of change in human history, but this is also the slowest it will ever be again.
Chris van der Kuyl, Chairperson of 4J Studios

The Next Act: Are we ready for the AI revolution?

The Panel

Our panel discussed AI readiness and, who holds the responsibility for the future. Hosted by Steph Wright, Head of the Scottish AI Alliance, our panel included:

Chris Yiu (Director of Public Policy, Northern Europe at Meta)
Will Page (Author of Pivot and Former Chief Economist at Spotify and PRS for Music)
Emily Sullivan (Co-Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute)
Chris van der Kuyl (Chairperson of 4J Studios)

From tackling Industry fragmentation and the varied sector response, to debating where the responsibility falls when it comes to scaling AI at pace – there was so much to take away from this session.

Key Insights

Here are the main takeaways to note:

Policy & Governance Challenges

AI readiness must extend to policy makers. The panel discussed the balance of responsibility and, whether investment in new infrastructures is a sound investment over using existing hyperscalers.

AI in Creative Industries

Balancing risk remains of paramount importance. With different industries taking rapidly different approaches, weighing up opportunities for artists as well as the pitfalls for companies is essential.

Scale & Geopolitics

The UK stock market is small, when compared to captains of industry such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, how we tackle innovation and growth is crucial to successful AI adoption. Will Page talked us through Jevons Paradox and the ultimate increase in usage of AI by virtue of its adoption and improvement.

Ethical & Sustainability Concerns

The UK market share may be small but our opportunity to lead the way in ethics, sustainability and broad adoption remains a compelling one.

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Just thinking about innovation, in a vacuum: innovation for what? Innovation for making more money, innovation for just producing more text? Do you think about innovation in terms of innovating to secure the values that we society hold here?
Emily Sullivan

To close the event, our board member and Director of Public Policy, Northern Europe at Meta, Chris Yiu left us with one key consideration:

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There are few barriers to try and at least test (AI) tools, experiment for yourself…because there is no substitute for experience.
Chris Yiu, Director of Public Policy, Northern Europe at Meta

Discover More

This edition of Conducting Businesswas held in Edinburgh’s innovation hub, The Bayes Centre, where researchers and businesses are at the cutting-edge of AI and data science.

With 46 attendees from 34 different companies and organisations across the charitable, legal, tech and investment sectors, to name a few.

To find out more about how we can work together, contact our Head of Partnerships, Ally Steel at [email protected]

Edinburgh International Festival

Conducting Business: The Future of AI