“The fu­ture is loud”: The CBS An­nu­al Cel­eb­ra­tion brought to­geth­er busi­ness lead­ers, re­search­ers and stu­dents around AI

Business leaders, researchers, students and decision-makers came together to discuss a technology that is already transforming companies as well as society.

Although the perspectives were big and at times serious, the evening was also atmospheric and sensory. Light, sound and scenography underlined that the future is no longer something ahead of us. It has already arrived.

Under the headline AI’s potential and perspectives, the programme focused on how artificial intelligence is shaping companies, people and societal development.

The Kiln Hall was bathed in cool, bluish light, while graphic patterns moved across walls and mirrors like digital circuits. Small light sources on the tables glowed from within like miniature data centres, while floating moss spheres served as visual data points in a network.

The atmosphere was formal and full of expectations as the evening’s toastmaster, Dean of Research, Innovation and Impact, Morten Frederiksen, welcomed the guests.

“We do not yet know where technological development is heading or where it will leave us, but we do know that now is the time to think, discuss and shape the future,” he said.

With a few words, he set the scene: 

“Artificial intelligence is not just a technological question. It is a leadership challenge. And a societal one.”

The future is loud

The evening’s first speaker, Acting Chair of the CBS Board of Directors, Lilian Mogensen, opened with a David Bowie quote:

“The future belongs to those who can hear it coming.”

Today, the future is not hard to hear, she noted.

“It is VERY loud. Every single day, AI technologies evolve. Every day, AI does something new.”

Read Lilian Mogensen’s full speech here

Between speeches, short video interludes featuring CBS researchers set the scene and showed how artificial intelligence is already influencing everything from leadership and the labour market to ethics and regulation. 

President: AI is like the fire of Prometheus

President Peter Møllgaard took the stage and placed the technology in a broader historical perspective, as he referred to the Greek myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans – a gift that enabled civilisation and carried inherent risk.

“AI is like the fire of Prometheus. It can illuminate. And it can burn.”

He pointed out that artificial intelligence is already helping detect diseases earlier, develop medicine faster and optimise companies’ use of resources. At the same time, the technology can generate convincing misinformation, reinforce bias and create new forms of concentration of power.

“That is why the question is not whether we should use AI. It is how we use it responsibly."

Read the President’s full speech here

Technology with promises and dilemmas

During the dinner, which featured veal tenderloin and mushroom ballotine, discussions continued around the tables.

Later in the evening, Denmark’s Tech Ambassador and this year’s Distinguished Alumna, Anne Marie Engtoft Meldgaard, took the stage.

She painted a picture of a technology undergoing explosive development, and of a society that has only just begun to understand the consequences. Giving the audience an image of a stadium slowly filling with water, she illustrated how AI develops exponentially: for a long time it feels manageable, but suddenly the change accelerates.

At the same time, she pointed to the fundamental paradox of artificial intelligence: that it holds enormous advances but also profound risks.

AI can help cure diseases, optimise energy consumption and create prosperity, but AI can also amplify misinformation, concentrate power and challenge democratic structures.

“AI has no intention of being good or bad. It is completely up to us,” she said. 

She called for Europe to take a more active role in development and to shape technology in line with democratic values, and emphasised that technology in itself does not create progress.

“The question is not only how we use AI, but who we wish to be when AI alters society”.

Future generations had the final word

The evening’s final perspective came from the students.

When Harrison Krampe, President of CBS Students, took the stage, he made it clear that artificial intelligence is not just the future, is already part of everyday life.

He pointed out how technology makes it easy to strive for perfection: to fine-tune, optimise and smooth everything out, from tasks to emails.

But maybe that is not what we should strive for.

At a time when AI can help us appear more precise and flawless, there is a risk that we lose something human along the way – the imperfect, the spontaneous, the personal.

His concluding point remained a quiet contrast to the evening’s many grand perspectives.

The 2026 Annual Celebration was therefore not only a celebration of CBS but also a space for reflection on a technology that is already reshaping the world.