Lila Tretikov

Artist, Business adviser, Business leader, Business mentor, Entrepreneur, Global soul, Idea generator, Industrialist, Investor, Parent, Potential employer

Lila Tretikov is an American and French CEO, technologist, board director, entrepreneur, and investor. Her work endeavors to positively impact human trajectory through technology and shepherd it towards an inspired and sustainable future. As a CTO at Microsoft, she focuses on shaping Microsoft’s future growth through AI. Prior to Microsoft, Tretikov was CEO of Terrawatt, an Engie clean energy company (2017), and CEO of Wikipedia, the largest open knowledge system and the fifth largest internet site in the world (2014). She created her first bioinformatics company as a teenager while working on the Human Genome Project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She studied Computer Science and Art at UC Berkeley. Lila is acclaimed by Forbes, San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg, Times as a visionary leader; she is listed in the Forbes Top 100 Most Powerful Women and awarded by the World Economic Forum an YGL designation.

The next generation of humans. We might be the last generation that is ephemeral, we will not be "saved" in some form or in some media. Our responsibility to help the next generation focus on understanding the infinite -- something our bodies and minds are not designed to comprehend. I am especially focused on bringing in diverse voices as they are the one factor that can help us avoid codifying biases and stereotypes inherent in the finite world.

We are on the brink of finally being able to de-compile the rules of physics, process of chemistry, and ultimately our own biology -- all supported by emergent compute and algorithmic powers. The next phase of humanity will be "engineered" -- from the composition of air around us, to managing our physiology. But our worldview has not yet adjusted to this emergent capability. We are building this next world without a conscious vision for what we want it to be. To engineer a better the world -- an better ourself -- we need to have a shared vision for a future. This picture of the future is the most important factor for our own survival -- a shared story that must unite us in our ambitious quest.

Making art