Live from TED2025 What we learned at day 2 of TED2025 Posted by: Maria Ladias, Oliver Friedman and Brian Greene April 9, 2025 at 12:50 pm EDT The stage and theater at Session 2 of TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Celebrating the joy of learning unexpected things, day 2 of TED2025 kicks off with a bang — or, more specifically, a howl, as we learn about the communication of wolves. From there, speakers explore a wide range of ideas, from the surprising parallels between evolution and language to jaw-dropping live demos of humanoid robots, AI-powered 3D games and more. Learn about bold visions for cleaning up the ocean, ending child hunger and aligning AI with humanity’s best interests. Are you ready to dive into what you didn’t know you needed to know? Here are some key takeaways from day 2: Jeffrey T. Reed speaks at Session 2 of TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined. April 8, 2025, Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) From wolves to humans, communication shapes survival and success. With the help of AI, we’re closer to understanding animal conversations. Linguist and software engineer Jeffrey T. Reed’s research on wolf vocalizations reveals how these creatures use sound not just for survival but also to negotiate, signal and stay in sync. This mirrors human communication, as cognitive scientist Steven Pinker suggests, where “common knowledge” allows us to do everything from navigating cities to sparking revolutions through coordinated action. None of this would be possible without the ever-evolving relationship between genes and language, explored in a fascinating conversation between evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and linguist John McWhorter (who also guest curated and hosted Session 2 of TED2025). Whether it’s a peacock’s colorful display, a wolf’s howl to reunite with its pack or a poet’s words to inspire — communication is the thread that ties us all together. Roland Fryer speaks at Session 2 of TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined. April 8, 2025, Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Bold takes on parenting and the role of culture in today’s biggest challenges. Journalist Lenore Skenazy makes the case that giving kids more independence, instead of micromanaging their every move, helps build resilience and — counterintuitively — eases both parents’ and children’s anxiety. Economist and entrepreneur Roland Fryer brings real-world perspective to how systemic inequalities shape our world. While hip-hop often gets blamed for its controversial lyrics, he flips the script, showing how the genre can reflect deeper societal issues, offering a voice to the unheard and shedding light on the complexities of race, class and opportunity in a way few other mediums can. Bernt Børnich speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Technology continues to infiltrate our lives. In a series of live demos, speakers show how technology is poised to integrate even more deeply into our daily lives. Roboticist Bernt Børnich brings the robot NEO onstage, showing that humanoid home helpers are no longer science fiction — they’re just around the corner. Meanwhile, Shahram Izadi takes us inside the development of Google’s new Android XR platform, which aims to give users the power of AI (on their faces) via headsets and smart glasses. Lastly, technologist Kiran Bhat previews the future of AI-powered 3D gaming, building an immersive, wintry Japanese village with only a series of text prompts. Palmer Luckey speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Inside the high-tech arms race. AI in warfare is no longer a hypothetical — it’s an inevitability, says Palmer Luckey, an inventor and founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries. He asserts that the US military must embrace mass-producible, AI-powered autonomous weapons in order to overwhelm adversaries with technological superiority. The stakes are no less than the ability to protect our way of life for a generation, he says: We need to summon every possible advantage to win. Wawira Njiru speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Africa has a blueprint for feeding children sustainably and at scale. Food trailblazer Wawira Njiru urges a reimagining of Africa not as a crisis zone but as the source of innovative solutions to child hunger. By focusing on school meals that use locally grown foods, engaging local communities and governments and innovating with simple but powerful technology, her nonprofit Food4Education has served more than 100 million meals — and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. With support from the Audacious Project, TED’s innovative funding initiative, Food4Education will feed one million kids daily in Kenya by 2030 and two million more across Africa, offering a blueprint for the rest of the world to follow in ensuring that every child has access to nutritious food. Boyan Slat speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Protecting the planet from every angle. On a scuba trip in Greece as a teenager, marine custodian Boyan Slat found more plastic bags than fish in the water. This shocking experience sparked The Ocean Cleanup, an ambitious effort to use technology to capture ocean trash at its source. After an initial (and very public) setback, Slat has now deployed trash “Interceptors” in eight countries, capable of capturing millions of kilograms of plastic in just hours of deployment, with plans to expand to 30 more countries. Back on land, farm animal welfare champion Lewis Bollard pulls back the curtain on the everyday horrors of factory farming — from crowded cages for hens to crates that confine pregnant pigs — and reveals how consumer demand has already driven major corporate and legislative reforms. By blending big data, inventive tech and grassroots pressure, Slat and Bollard illustrate that massive environmental problems can be tackled — if we decide to act. Tristan Harris speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) We urgently need to find the “narrow path” to building safe AI — before it’s too late. The current path of AI development is dangerous, unsustainable and “insane,” says technologist Tristan Harris, as profit- and influence-seeking companies create frontier models that are proving themselves to be untrustworthy and downright deceitful. But creating an AI dystopia is not inevitable — rather, it’s a choice we’re making. By gaining clarity on the risks and taking cues from how humanity has faced other existential challenges, like nuclear proliferation and ozone depletion, we can find what Harris calls the “narrow path,” where AI is rolled out into society with wisdom and foresight — and where powers match responsibility. Attendees giving a standing ovation at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Head of TED Chris Anderson and impact investor Jacqueline Novogratz at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 8, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)