Autonomous systems have become increasingly
integrated into all aspects of every person’s daily life Autonomous delivery products are changing
the future for consumers Autonomy’s impact on transportation will be
transformational Catalyzing Engineering Innovations
to Improve Healthcare Autonomy’s impact on transportation
will be transformational

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Upcoming Events

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Agenda
June 2026 Jun 2026
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Jun
20
Sat
FOR 2026: The Future of Our Realities — Work and Truth @ JHU Bloomberg Center
Tickets
Jun 20 @ 9:00 am – 8:00 pm

A free, full-day conference on how AI is reshaping the future of work and the future of truth.

As AI systems generate {text, code, images, decisions, and synthetic media} at scale, they are transforming {labor, expertise, creativity, misinformation, public trust} our shared reality. FOR 2026 brings together researchers, technologists, artists, writers, policymakers, cognitive scientists, economists, and founders for talks, panels, workshops, and open conversation. FOR 2026 is a space for intimate, serious and open conversation across fields: science, technology, policy, art, economics, media, and culture. Together, we will ask what it means to preserve human agency, trustworthy institutions, and shared reality in a world increasingly mediated by AI.

Date: June 20, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Location: JHU Bloomberg Center, 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC
Format: Talks, panels, and workshops
Food: Free light breakfast, hot lunch, coffee, and sunset reception
Learn more and register: https://futurerealities.org/FOR2026/

Featured speakers include:
Jay McClelland — Cognitive scientist and early AI pioneer
Ada Palmer — Historian and award-winning science fiction author
Ioana Marinescu — Economist studying AI, labor, and market power
Lisa Fazio — Cognitive psychologist of memory and misinformation
Artemis Seaford — Former VP of AI Safety at ElevenLabs
Katherine von Jan — Founder and CEO, Tough Day
Ben Guo — Cofounder and President, Zo Computer

Spots are limited, so early registration is encouraged.

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June 2026 Jun 2026

How Do We Create an Assured Autonomous Future?

Autonomous systems have become increasingly integrated into all aspects of every person’s daily life. In response, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy (IAA) focuses on ensuring that those systems are safe, secure, and reliable, and that they do what they are designed to do.

Pillars of the IAA

Applications

Autonomous technologies perform tasks with a high degree of autonomy and often employ artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate human cognition, intelligence, and creativity. Because these systems are critical to our safety, health, and well-being as well as to the fabric of our system of commerce, new research and engineering methodologies are needed to ensure they behave in safe, reasonable, and acceptable ways…

Foundational AI

Autonomous systems must integrate well with individuals and with society at large. Such systems often integrate into—and form collectively into—an autonomous ecosystem. That ecosystem—the connections and interactions between autonomous systems, over networks, with the physical environment, and with humans—must be assured, resilient, productive, and fair in the autonomous future…

Ethics and Governance

The nation must adopt the right policy to ensure autonomous systems benefit society. Just as the design of technology has dramatic impacts on society, the development and implementation of policy can also result in intended and unintended consequences. Furthermore, the right governance structures are critical to enforce sound policy and to guide the impact of technology…

  • In recent years, we have learned that the most important element about autonomous systems is – for humans – trust. Trust that the autonomous systems will behave predictably, reliably, and effectively. That sort of trust is hard-won and takes time, but the centrality of this challenge to the future of humanity in a highly autonomous world motivates us all.
    Ralph Semmel, Director, Applied Physics Laboratory
  • In the not too distant future we will see more and more autonomous systems operating with humans, for humans, and without humans, taking on tasks that were once thought of as the exclusive domains of humans. How can we as individuals and as a society be assured that these systems are design for resilience against degradation or malicious attack? The  mission of the Institute is to bring assurance to people so that as our world is populated by autonomous systems they are operating safely, ethically, and in the best interests of humans.
    Ed Schlesinger Benjamin T. Rome Dean, Whiting School of Engineering