Centaurian AISXSW 2027Vote for this panel

SXSW 2027 · Austin, TX

The Futureof WorkIs Play

Meta-mastery at the speed of AI.

Pilots have flight simulators. Surgeons train in VR. Race car drivers run virtual tracks. Knowledge workers never had an equivalent — they build judgment by waiting for hard problems to arrive. AI changes that.

Core Conversation · Tech & AI · Intermediate · Community voting is open now.

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The Simulation Game — three minutes on think, prompt, check.2027

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About the panel

Pilots have flight simulators. Surgeons train in VR. Race car drivers run virtual tracks. Not outliers — proof of how humans reach mastery. Lawyers, consultants, and managers build judgment by waiting for hard problems to arrive. AI changes that: it plays the client, creates the crisis, varies the conditions, and gives instant feedback — turning work into the kind of play mammals use to build mastery.

We'll run the room through a live judgment scenario and show what every career's flight simulator will look like.

  • Who it's for

    Leaders building expertise on their teams, and entry-level workers charting a career as AI reshapes the path from novice to expert.

  • Format

    Core Conversation · Tech & AI track · Intermediate level.

  • Live demo

    A real judgment rep run with the room. Not slideware.

Resources

  • The Simulation Game — Kes Sampanthar — Most people use AI as an answer machine. We use AI to amplify humans through simulation — this is what one live judgment rep looks like.
  • WINK News, June 2026 — “Centaurian AI founders say most people are using AI the wrong way” — Kes and Scott lay out the think-prompt-check method.
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Featured in

What you'll leave with

  1. What meta-mastery is

    And why it remains the decisive human skill even as AI capabilities keep advancing.

  2. Simulation builds judgment

    How to compress years of consequential reps into hours, the way GT Academy and AlphaGo compressed mastery.

  3. What it looks like at work

    From KPMG's TaxSim to a live routine you can take back to your own team.

Meet the speakers

Portrait of Kes Sampanthar
KS

Kes Sampanthar

Founder & CEO, Centaurian AI

Kes began building AI systems in the early 1990s — neural networks, genetic algorithms, parallel computation — and has spent more than three decades studying intelligence across artificial and biological systems. At Centaurian he applies that research to simulation-based products that help people build expertise and judgment as AI automates routine cognitive work.

His work sits at the intersection of AI, neuroscience, cognitive science, and the science of learning, focused on what benchmarks miss: motivation, plasticity, developmental learning, world-model formation, and judgment. His 2013 Springer paper, The Motivational GPS, connected dopamine-based wanting to the design of adaptive systems.

Founded KPMG's Innovation Lab · Senior Managing Director at BCG · SXSW 2023 panelist · TED Active & TEDxAlbany · Guest lecturer, Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School Executive Education

Portrait of Scott Wolfson
SW

Scott Wolfson

Co-Founder & Chief Culture Officer, Centaurian AI

Scott is co-author of Centaurian's Think, Prompt, Check method and the voice behind its public work on cognitive fitness and human-AI collaboration. A two-time Emmy Award-winning journalist turned AI educator, he has spent fifteen years turning rigorous learning science into things people actually use.

He comes to AI from journalism rather than engineering, translating cognitive science into language and experiences that land with non-technical leaders and first-time AI users — pairing Kes's frameworks with story, humor, and experience design.

Senior Strategy Director at BCG · Managing Director at Valize · Co-creator of Think, Prompt, Check · Guest lecturer, Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School Executive Education

Centaurian AI

Centaurian AI builds simulation-based products that help people build expertise and judgment as AI automates routine cognitive work. Every other field that demands high-stakes judgment has a simulator; we're building the one knowledge work never had.

Our work draws on AI research, neuroscience, cognitive science, and the science of learning — and shows up as executive programs, live simulations, and a simple method teams can practice: think, prompt, check.

  • Think

    Form your own judgment before the model speaks.

  • Prompt

    Put the work to AI with intent, not autopilot.

  • Check

    Verify, push back, and keep the skill in your hands.

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Austin, TX