TIME Trailblazers Put People First in Designing a Better World

Evans added that Zoox also takes its responsibility to keep riders safe seriously, given how there are nearly 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year related to motor vehicle crashes.

Fellow panelist and 2026 TIME Trailblazers honoree, entrepreneur Jason Ballard, whose construction-technology firm ICON specializes in 3D-printed housing, discussed how his own experiences with hurricanes in the Texas Gulf Coast made him think deeply about what decent human shelter looks like. He added that the way houses are built today is still “inhuman,” “sterile,” and “repetitive,” and that he envisions a world where housing can be both “affordable” and “beautiful.”

Ballard argued that technology can reconcile values that otherwise appear to conflict. “What advanced technology is supposed to do is maybe bring our values out of conflict,” he says. “Right now you have to choose between affordability and beauty, or you have to choose between speed of construction and sustainability. But wouldn’t the purpose of technology be that we can have all of our values?” 

Steve Blum, executive vice president and chief operating officer of software company Autodesk, which is a presenting partner for the event, also participated in the panel and touched on current concerns about artificial intelligence and automation replacing humans.

Blum said that at his company, “AI is here to augment the human, not replace the human,” adding that it gives people more time to do activities they love and to hone their expertise.

“Everywhere around the world I travel, folks are saying they can’t go after all the projects they want to go after because they do not have the capacity and people,” Blum said. “AI will help by getting more out of each of the humans and allow them to do more work.”

Ballard wrapped up the panel discussion with a vision for this people-focused future, and presented an optimistic view of technology’s role in bringing dignity to people’s lives.

“There’s a lot of maybe scary, fearful things in the air right now around advanced technologies and AI,” he said. “But I think when you look at the things that are actually being done with the tools today… it’s a very cool time to be alive.”