Currently, Alex Chao is building next-generation AI products at Microsoft through the Office of the CTO with an emphasis
on multimodal and large language models.
Over the last decade, Alex has successfully launched applied ML products across industries in health, gaming,
finance, defense, energy, autonomous vehicles, semiconductors, and enterprise tech.
He has held product management roles at SambaNova Systems and C3.ai building out ML Platforms and deep
learning offerings to enterprise customers. Alex continues to be an active ML practitioner and was the first data
science hire at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group working on building large scale computer vision and sensor
fusion algorithms for self-driving cars.
Alex is motivated to help raise the next generation of data scientists and product leaders and has taught and
mentored at places like General Assembly, Springboard, and Product School to equip students for their future
success. He is a proud alumni of UC Berkeley! Go Bears!
Brian Sigmon is a science fiction author and an acquisitions editor at The United Methodist Publishing House, where he edits books, small group studies, and official resources for The United Methodist Church. Brian has a Ph.D. in religious studies from Marquette University and a M.Div. from Duke Divinity School.
He is driven to help all people explore their faith, especially non-experts, and regularly teaches church classes on the Bible and the intersection of technology and faith.
As a science fiction author, Brian explores the world and the future through fast-paced, compelling stories. His 2023 novella MessiahBot imagines God becoming incarnate as an AI. Brian lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Amy and their three children.
