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Ben Childers

Founder & Head of Experience Design
Cool/Scary AI Sh!t

Ben Childers is the Founder and Head of Experience Design at Cool/Scary AI Sh!t, a decentralized, community-driven AI Literacy nonprofit exploring the social impact of artificial intelligence. Under his leadership, the project has evolved from a pilot series of gatherings into an independent, fiscally sponsored nonprofit that empowers local organizers to convene their own summits—free to attend, human-centered, and rigorously documented through shared standards.

Ben designs each event as both a live experience and an evolving commons for collective sensemaking. Drawing from his background as a strategist, facilitator, and co-founder of Stratovation Partners, he developed the backbone-hosted summit model that anchors the Cool/Scary AI Sh!t calendar, testing new event formats, accessibility practices, and impact documentation frameworks.

His work sits at the intersection of design, governance, and civic imagination—helping mission-driven leaders and creative technologists examine AI’s ethical, organizational, and cultural implications without the hype. He’s guided hundreds of practitioners in translating complex, abstract ideas about AI into actionable insights that strengthen teams, communities, and institutions.

Through summits in Baltimore, Denver, DC, and beyond, Ben continues to shape Cool/Scary AI Sh!t as an open platform for asking better questions about the future we’re building—and who gets to build it.

Disclosure information not submitted.

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