Wednesday, September 30, 2026
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
MIT Future Fest
About this event
The inaugural edition of a five day MIT festival, more than 50 events and 100 speakers across the campus, produced by MIT Museum with MIT Technology Review and MIT Design. Dedicated AI sessions run throughout, and one pass covers all five days. It closes with the free Cambridge Science Carnival.
MIT Future Fest is new for 2026 and it is one festival on one pass, not five separate days. Worth knowing before you plan: the schedule is uneven. September 30 opens in the afternoon and runs late, October 1 through 3 each run 9am to 10pm, and October 4 is a single midday block.
Shape of a day
Each day is organised into four modes: Move (morning walks and embodied practices), Think (panels and interviews), Discover (Future Labs, workshops, installations), and Play (performances, salons, concerts, late night).
The AI programming
This is a broad science, technology, art and design festival, so AI is a major thread rather than the whole cloth. Dedicated sessions include AI and Human Flourishing, AI in Healthcare, AI and Hardware, AI and the Creative Imagination, Artificial Intimacy, and a recurring performance piece titled will AI take my job?
Speakers
The opening keynote panel features MIT President Sally Kornbluth. Named participants across the week include Daron Acemoglu, Sherry Turkle, Rosalind Picard, Gary Gensler, Andrew Lo, Jonathan Gruber, Carlo Ratti and Tony Fadell.
Practical notes
Sessions are spread across the MIT campus and the official site does not publish per-session buildings, so treat MIT Museum as the anchor point and check the programme for room assignments. The festival closes with the Cambridge Science Carnival at the Kendall and MIT Open Space, which is free to attend and expected to draw more than 20,000 people.
Organized by
MIT's public-facing museum in Kendall Square, Cambridge. It co-produces MIT Future Fest, a transdisciplinary festival made with MIT Technology Review and the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, alongside its year-round exhibition and public programme schedule.