Boston AI Week with Judah Phillips

What does it take to build an AI ecosystem that starts in one place but reaches far beyond it? That’s the idea behind Boston AI Week, the community-driven festival Judah Phillips created to connect companies, academics, investors, government, cultural institutions, job seekers, students, and people who are simply curious about AI. Judah is Chief AI and Product Officer at Market Holdings and has been building AI communities in Boston for years. This year, Boston AI Week includes more than 500 participating organizations and more than 150 events, with visitors and delegations coming from 23 countries. Boston is the home base, but increasingly it isn’t the boundary. What makes the event unusual is the model. Judah deliberately rejected the traditional conference format in favor of something decentralized, largely free, and built by the community itself. He describes it as a “civic action.” Building AI Boston is part of that ecosystem too: Kara serves on the Boston AI Week board, and Kara and Anna will be on site as official media partners. We dig into: • Why an AI ecosystem can’t just be software companies talking to other software companies • The four goals behind Boston AI Week: broaden understanding, create jobs, connect the ecosystem, and strengthen the Massachusetts economy • Why Judah built a decentralized festival instead of a traditional conference • Why keeping most events free matters to the mission • How Boston AI Week became an international draw • The career fair, and why job creation matters in a conversation often dominated by job loss • Judah’s bigger ambition to make AI part of business, culture, community, and everyday life • Why he prefers “humans in control” to simply “human in the loop” This conversation is really about who gets to participate in the AI economy, how you build the connections that make an ecosystem work, and what happens when you invite a much bigger group of people into the conversation. Boston AI Week https://aiweek.bostonBoston AI Week Schedule: https://aiweek.boston/scheduleJudah's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judahphillips