Penn State Startup Week 2026

Everyone talks about AI breakthroughs. Far fewer talk about what happens after the demo.

In this session, Ted Wolf (Smeal Alumnus) and George Wolf (IST Alumnus), a father-son team and co-founders of Guidewise, share what it actually looks like to build, deploy, and scale AI inside real organizations. Not in theory and not in a lab, but in the messy middle where technology meets people, process, trust, and day-to-day work.

You’ll learn why many of the most important careers in AI don’t have clear job titles yet, and why that’s an advantage for curious builders who are willing to work at the intersection of AI, data, and human systems. We’ll talk candidly about what’s breaking inside organizations today, how AI agents are beginning to work alongside people, and where students can create real impact faster than they might expect.

This session is for students who don’t just want to understand AI, but want to build with it, learn quickly, and do work that actually matters.