Meet the new Audience Choice winners to lead breakouts at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Meet the two Audience Choice winners who'll take the breakout stage at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 in Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley to share their insights with 1,200 AI leaders and enthusiasts.
We sifted through hundreds of Call for Content submissions and narrowed them down to six standout finalists. Your votes crowned two winners — and now they're ready to share their cutting-edge AI insights live.
Yann Stoneman, staff solutions architect at Cohere: Behind Your Firewall: Secure Generative AI for Regulated Enterprises
Hua Wang, executive director at Global Innovation Forum: The AI Policy Playbook: What Global Startups Need to Know
Session: Ever wonder how to use cutting-edge generative AI in healthcare or finance — without sweating over data privacy? Join Yann for a lively breakout session at TC Sessions: AI. Alongside three expert panelists, Yann will guide an interactive, 50-minute conversation packed with real-world use cases from Cohere's North (agentic AI workspace) and Compass (multimodal retrieval). You'll get practical strategies for deploying secure, customized AI models on your own infrastructure — no external cloud required. Expect hands-on demos, live Q&A, and insights that'll help you build AI solutions safely and confidently, right behind your firewall.
About Yann Stoneman: Yann Stoneman is a staff solutions architect at Cohere, where he helps enterprises deploy secure, customizable AI powered by next-gen foundation models. Previously at AWS, he supported large-scale AI adoption and debuted an AI demo at re:Invent 2023. Yann is a trusted partner for seamless integration and user-friendly AI design. His expertise has been featured at Generative AI World and Voices of Data Science, and on the blogs of Cohere and AWS. He holds a BA from the Juilliard School.
Session: AI gives startups an edge, but regulation can slow them down. This breakout dives into how founders can stay compliant and competitive while scaling globally. Learn how to tap into AI tools for digital trade, navigate evolving data laws, and unlock new markets. We'll cover the policies shaping the future of AI startups and offer real-world strategies to help you expand without the red tape. If you're building, investing in, or regulating AI, this session delivers the insights you need to lead with confidence.
About Hua Wang: Hua leads the Global Innovation Forum (GIF), where she builds bridges between diverse entrepreneurs and the global economy. At GIF, she drives inclusive strategies for trade and digital policy, partnering with business leaders, nonprofits, and international institutions like the World Trade Organization and the UN to unlock global opportunities for underrepresented voices.
From launching a telemedicine startup to helping startups raise $20 million+ as an accelerator director, Hua's career spans entrepreneurship, law, tech, and policy. She's also served as an entrepreneur-in-residence across Chile, Malaysia, and the U.S. A former attorney and banker, Hua holds degrees from Duke and Northwestern Law — and a deep belief in innovation as a driver of global growth.
AI is moving fast — and so should you. Learn how to build behind your firewall with Yann Stoneman and unlock global markets with Hua Wang — two of the audience-chosen breakout leaders you won't want to miss. Save up to $210 on your pass, or bring a crew and save even more. Head to the agenda to see what's in store and grab your ticket before prices jump.
Go beyond attending — exhibit your brand and innovation in front of 1,200 top AI minds. Space is limited, so don't miss your chance to make an impact! Grab your exhibit table here before they run out.
Or, explore more sponsorship opportunities and activations at TC Sessions: AI. Get in touch with our team by filling out this form.
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The burgeoning ChatGPT roster was a big reason why OpenAI was able to raise $8.3 billion this week at a $300 billion valuation. That little-noticed fact should have turned more heads, and that alone could explain some of this week's craziness. After all, design software company Figma only raised $1.2 billion in its initial public offering Thursday, a puny deal, but it still managed to capture everyone's attention. (More on that later.) There was lots of grousing about Microsoft benefitting from the surge in OpenAI business. Some experts liken the partnership to that of Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and predict it too will soon flame out, meaning that huge stream of Open AI revenue could go away. But the amount of fear instilled by AWS critics was behind the huge sell-off in Amazon . As I made my calls to sources Friday, I kept hearing that AWS, built to sell product, isn't built to help create new businesses based on AI. There is some truth here. 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Even better than Nvidia because: 1) it has been around for 100 years; and 2) the power of compounding. Then there's Figma, the spawn of CoreWeave and Circle. It looks like those who embrace meme stocks and those who love the tightly controlled bitcoin have fallen in love with the IPO process and the lack of float. Coreweave, an almost busted deal, cut the size of its initial public offering (IPO) to $1.5 billion: 37.5 million shares at $40 per share, down from its previous plan of 49 million shares at $47–55 per share. It worked and the stock exploded higher. Figma also had heavy demand and light supply, as only $1.2 billion went to the company and the rest went to selling shareholders. Strange ratio there: 12.4 million shares raised by the company and 24 million shares raised by selling shareholders. I can't blame the bankers for low-balling Circle after Coreweave. But there was no excuse for the underpricing of Figma; even the gents putting up the signs in front of the New York Stock Exchange knew it would be a smash. Anyway, it's too bad because it devolved into rank speculation as the buyers, sensing there could be no more new shares trading for six months, decided to play bitcoin and generate an increase on the second day of trading that was childish. Palantir reports results on Monday, and I am expecting another home run, which will ignite even more speculation. Friday's losers were far more varied and deep. First, can we dispense with the idea that the employment number, as weak as it was, caused the sell-off? The classic recession stocks fared miserably: Procter & Gamble , Bristol Myers , Colgate , McCormick all landed on the new-low list. (Bristol was good, but without a hit in Cobenfy, its drug to treat schizophrenia , we will never make money in it.) These stocks would be on the list of new highs if a recession was the real story. Plus, with bonds soaring and yields plunging, you would think someone would want that P & G yield. You also would have thought that Baxter would be on the new highs list in a recession, but all I can say is have no idea what's happening there. But it isn't good. If you cut your dividend (as in the case of Dow ) or if the dividend is doubted (think UPS ), you end up on the list of new lows. Both of those stocks deserve that fate. Old Dominion is a legit recession story if you want to frame it that way. Carmax , too, except the incredible move in Carvana makes that reasoning suspect. The food group is just so bad: General Mills and Conagra pop up; the latter lives on this low list. Then there are a couple of oddballs. Accenture had been on a multiyear consulting tear. That's over. It didn't take long for Otis after myriad good quarters to land on this ignoble list. Two yesteryear faves, Chipotle and Lululemon , are a reminder that this market has little enthusiasm for high-multiple disappointments. Both need huge upside surprises to change their direction. I don't see any coming. And then there's UnitedHealth , the much beloved UnitedHealth. What a death rattle feel for that Dow stock. It's a wide and varied list for the new lows. But it's not the kind of list you get when people think there is a recession coming soon. Instead, it says there is considerable rot underneath that we might not have known otherwise when we look at all of the deals and IPOs and SPACs that are being priced. Although the latter spells trouble, too — way too speculative. So where do I come out? We just had a huge move that was decapitated by Trump's tariff sword once again. To me, it was a depressing week because the speculation emanating from Figma, the endless bitcoin derivatives, and the Palantirs and next Palantirs are signs that nothing good is about to happen. We need Figma and Ciricle to be crushed if we are going to go anywhere. We need the fascination with stocks as crypto champs to die down. We need a return to the financials as leaders and techs as consolidators. Yes, we need to see consolidation in tech (and many other industries) to get things back on track. There is no sign of a pulse at the Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission, so the time is right. Which leads me back to the Magnificent Seven and Apple . The quarter was good . Double-digit growth in revenue and earnings per share. Most encouraging: When I spoke to CEO Tim Cook, the need to put big deals on the radar screen was clear. The idea of something major in a finance vertical, now that the Goldman Sachs credit card deal is unraveling, is downright exciting. But the fact that this stock went down last week? Downright depressing. How bad? If it goes down big Monday, we're going to have to some major resetting of what works around here and it won't be good. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
