Keynote speaker announced for Superyacht Design Festival 2024

Tackling the contentious topic of the role AI can play in the design world, Professor Neil Leach will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Superyacht Design Festival 2024. Returning to Kitzbühel next year (28-30 January) the event brings together speakers from across the design and superyacht worlds. Tickets are available to purchase now.

Professor Leach is an architect and writer with a special interest in AI and digital design who has taught at leading design schools all over the world, including Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, SCI-Arc and the AA. He has also worked for NASA developing 3D printing technologies for the Moon and Mars. He is currently Professor at FIU in Miami, where he directs the Doctor of Design program. He has published over 40 books, including most recently Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction to AI for Architects (2022) and Machine Hallucinations: Architecture and AI (2022). He is currently working on three further books on AI and architecture and can be found showcasing his AI creations on Instagram @neilleach14.

Leach will be leading the festival with this year’s most burning topic: Is it time to embrace AI? Rather than fight against AI or be left behind by AI, Leach believes that we need to engage with AI. Designers, he says, must wake up to its extraordinary potential to create mind blowing visuals, and get ready for a future when AI will transform the entire design process.

In his talk Leach will cover the latest topics and issues including the effects AI will have on the design world and where he sees its future capabilities. Change in AI is happening at breakneck speed, he says: by knowing what is coming round the corner, studios can be better prepared, better informed and quicker off the starting blocks, essential in this increasingly-competitive world. Leach will also be showcasing some tricks, tips and techniques during the event.  Leach’s keynote will lead a packed schedule of inspirational content.

Other talks will include How to grow your own superyacht on the exciting art of using biodesign materials in interiors and artworks; Beyond teak: an expert panel of builders, designers and suppliers will present the most stylish, sustainable and viable options for the decking of the future and Welcome to the Glass Age: glass technology has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years, but now a new invention looks set to push the boundaries even further.