By invitation
Conversations among the people
shaping the world.
Digital Battlefield Group convenes accomplished people from government, technology, science, media, and finance for honest conversation across the lines that usually keep them apart.
Most Fridays · 12:00–1:00 PM PT · Under the Chatham House Rule
Why it exists
The premise is simple: bring together people who would not normally find themselves in the same conversation, and create the conditions for genuine exchange.
That diversity of viewpoint is the point. It helps participants step outside their daily echo chamber, past the perspectives repeated within a single industry, political tribe, or professional network, and into informed views held by people with fundamentally different experience.
The conversations are designed to foster intellectual curiosity and unexpected connection across disciplines. The goal is not to reach consensus, but to challenge assumptions, broaden perspectives, and help leaders better understand an increasingly complex world.
What makes candor possible
Held under the Chatham House Rule
No press. No recordings. That discretion is what allows people who are usually guarded to speak plainly, and what keeps the conversation honest.
“When a meeting is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
Who's in the room
Senior leaders, across the lines that divide them
In keeping with the Rule, participants are described by what they do, never by name.
Science, Medicine & Space
People expanding the edges of what is known, and what is possible.
- Nobel laureates and National Academy scientists
- Leading cosmologists, physicists, and neuroscientists
- Founders and CEOs of frontier longevity and biotech companies
- NASA astronauts and former NASA leaders
- Tenured professors from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and Berkeley
Government, Diplomacy & Security
Those who have sat where the decisions are made, and still do.
- Former directors of the CIA, the NSA, and national intelligence
- Former chiefs of the Mossad and foreign intelligence services
- Ambassadors to Washington and former U.S. cabinet officials
- Members of Congress and former Pentagon and State Department leaders
- Architects of national cyber strategy
Technology & Artificial Intelligence
The people who built the systems now reshaping how the world thinks.
- Pioneers who shaped modern artificial intelligence
- Architects of the internet and the products built on it
- Researchers behind today's leading AI models
- Founders and CEOs of leading AI chip and infrastructure companies
- Senior leaders from Google, Meta, ByteDance, and Mozilla
Finance & Venture
Capital that decides which futures get built.
- Founding and managing partners of top venture firms
- Fortune 100 chairs and chief executives
- Principals of leading family offices
- Founders who built and sold category-defining companies
Media & Storytelling
The people who frame the questions everyone else ends up asking.
- CEOs, owners, and editors-in-chief of the world's leading newsrooms
- Leaders of The New York Times, TIME, The Atlantic, and the Financial Times
- Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmakers and showrunners
- Hollywood studio chiefs and producers
Civil Society & Ideas
The institutions and thinkers shaping the public interest.
- Nobel Peace Prize laureates
- Pioneers of AI ethics and humane technology
- Heads of major foundations and NGOs
- Bestselling authors and public intellectuals
Institutions represented
Participants have come from
Among many others.
Who takes the floor
Recent conversations have been opened by
Every conversation is held in confidence. In keeping with the Rule, those who take the floor are described by what they have done, not by name.
Pioneers who built the internet and modern artificial intelligence
Turing Award and Nobel laureates
Former directors of the NSA and the CIA
Commanders of U.S. special operations and architects of national security
Harvard astrophysicists and NASA astronauts
World-renowned cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, and biographers
Founders of the apps and platforms used by billions
Pioneering oncologists, longevity scientists, and biotech founders
CEOs and editors-in-chief of the world's leading newsrooms
Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmakers, and NBA champions
Mayors, members of Congress, and former heads of U.S. federal agencies
Legendary investors and the founders of category-defining companies
From the room
A sense of the conversation
Unattributed, in keeping with the Rule. A few of the lines that have crossed the table.
“Two drones destroyed the idea of security in the Emirates. The stock exchange dropped 22 percent and wiped out billions.”
“The American companies are like a child prodigy wanting to win the Nobel Prize. The Chinese companies are more like a study group.”
“The single most valuable asset the Ukrainians have today is the largest training set of data for AI-enabled drones, and they are sitting on it.”
“There is a very good chance the United States will have a debt crisis within the next five years. It would not be confined to our shores. It would ripple around the world.”
“Sepsis is the number one cause of death in American hospitals. The death rate should be 3 percent, not 30. It is the money.”
“AI companies are basically media companies. In the playbook for dictators, the first thing you do is acquire media.”
“Most of the real estate in the universe is beyond Earth. A visitor who arrived in our backyard before we arrived in theirs would know far more than we do.”
“On most measures of human welfare, life expectancy, child mortality, clean water, electricity, the world is at an all-time record, the best in human history.”
“Not to reach consensus, but to create conversations that challenge assumptions, broaden perspectives, and help leaders understand an increasingly complex world.”
Participation is by invitation
If you would value a seat at the table, or know someone who would, introduce yourself. We read every note.
Write to contact@digitalbattlefield.com