Promoting Open Discourse at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

By Allan R. Tate, SM '86, Executive Chair, MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

(Note: This essay reflects the views of the author and does not speak for the broader MIT Sloan Boston Alumni Association board or the CIO Symposium advisory board.)

The purpose of this document is to illustrate that openly incorporating free speech and open discourse practices at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium improves the quality of the event.

In the fall of 2021, the MIT Free Speech Alliance (MFSA) was formed in response to the cancelation of Prof. Dorian Abbot’s lecture about the habitability of planets outside our solar system. This was the prestigious John H. Carlson Lecture at MIT, which communicates exciting new results in climate science. His lecture was canceled following objections to his op-ed advocating merit, fairness, and equality (MFE) rather than diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in faculty hiring and promotion. The full story is explained on the MFSA website.

MFSA has worked closely with the faculty and the administration to improve the free speech climate at MIT. They have hosted multiple debates, have organized an annual conference on campus, have supported the MIT Ad Hoc Working Group on Free Expression, and facilitated the formation of an official student organization on campus, MODS (MIT Open Discourse Society), which recently celebrated its second anniversary.

Since its inception, MFSA has grown to more than 1,000 members, primarily alumni. The founding mission of the MIT Free Speech Alliance is “to promote free expression, academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and open scientific inquiry, without regard to partisanship or ideology.”

I am a classic liberal in the sense that I support individual liberties, open-mindedness and tolerance of diverse perspectives. I admire people like John Stuart Mill, Thomas Jefferson and Jonathan Rauch. I am not persuaded by the claims from once-fringe, but now-popular, post-modernists, that free speech and open discourse are harmful.

(From left: MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Executive Chair Allan Tate; MIT Concourse Senior Lecturer Linda Rabieh; attendees at the 2024 symposium.)

Free Speech and Open Discourse are Essential to the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

In 2020 I became the Executive Chair of the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, which is the nation’s premier CIO event. We bring together information technology executives from around the world and leading faculty from MIT. For the last 21 years, the annual event has offered interactive learning and thought-provoking discourse on the future of technology, best practices, and business that is not available anywhere else.

I was concerned that free speech and open discourse are not universally accepted by students and faculty on college campuses, a concern also shared by others. A 2022 focused study by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) found that 48% of students were uncomfortable expressing views on a controversial political topic in common campus space. Instead of fostering open discussions, I found myself carefully choosing topics and speakers to avoid offense. This was at odds with the mission of the Symposium I was now running.

As concerns about free speech increased, concrete changes began falling into place. In response to the Dorian Abbott incident, MIT’s faculty developed and adopted the Free Expression Statement in December 2022, which was endorsed by President Sally Kornbluth in early 2023. A group of MIT faculty, including Linda Rabieh (Concourse), went on to form the MIT Council on Academic Freedom in the summer of 2024. While these events unfolded on campus, I was motivated to preserve and enhance free speech and open discourse at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium.

Since the CIO Symposium’s mission includes “interactive learning and thought-provoking discourse,” I began to explore ways to enhance the attendee experience. My goal was to ensure that all members of the community felt welcome to share facts or stories from their experiences, even if controversial. We embrace practices that help our attendees explore difficult and often emerging concepts with their peers. Our attendees return to work better informed and ready to make decisions that help both their organizations and society.

To protect the quality of discussion at the CIO Symposium, I have integrated practices of open discourse from the MIT Free Speech Alliance (MFSA) to promote a culture of critical thinking that benefits all participants. These practices have been historically essential to the university experience, as well as the experience of citizens in open societies.

When CIOs are tackling hot topics like AI ethics and workforce security, all points of view and opinions must be heard. At the CIO Symposium, these practices allow minority opinions to be heard while the community grapples with difficult questions without clear answers.

First Virtual Symposium in 2021

In 2021 the Symposium was a virtual event that evolved over 8 weeks. I took deliberate steps to protect the integrity of our discussions. We published Terms of Use that set the tone for respectful, non-partisan engagement:

Welcome to the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium community. We are a community of busy people. Many are CIOs, CDOs and other enterprise leaders. Conversations should be focused on leadership and technology. Let’s be guided by data, science, logic and reason. Please use X (formally Twitter), Facebook, Braver Angels or other social media to discuss politics and mass media topics. This community is an oasis from all of that.

We strive to create a stimulating environment for our members to discuss complex topics. As such, the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is non-partisan and does not take a position on political or social matters. We don’t organize collective action. We encourage free inquiry, a diversity of views, where members are free to express opinions (in an appropriate forum) without censorship.

These Terms of Use are intended to solidify the non-partisan and neutral status of the Symposium. Commitment to free inquiry and a diversity of views has been a cornerstone of the Symposium's success. These terms follow the example of the University of Chicago Kalven Report, committing to the academic freedom of faculty and students in the face of suppression from internal and/or external entities, while also insisting on institutional neutrality on political and social issues. As a private community, we felt it appropriate to establish time, manner, and place rules to create a stimulating environment for discussing complex topics.

Fostering Dynamic Questions

The 2022 and 2023 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium seasons marked the return to in-person events as the risks of COVID-19 began to fade. The 2022 season was a hybrid Symposium, allowing people to attend either in-person or remotely. While this approach made sense at the time, it also introduced challenges. Remote attendees could submit questions through a third-party tool, but this led to less engagement and allowed moderators to screen questions, which dulled the discussions.

In 2023, remote questions were eliminated to focus on in-person engagement. Audience members were allowed to ask unscripted questions directly, which revitalized the conversations. Despite some initial concerns from moderators, this approach led to more dynamic and enriching discussions. In 2024, the in-person experience was further refined to emphasize live interaction over remote engagement.

Adding Roundtable Discussions and Debate

The 2024 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium included a first-ever expanded agenda, presenting a new, exclusive chance for engagement and collaboration within the information technology community. The 2024 pre-event was greatly enhanced with new activities that began after lunch and continued until the late afternoon Innovation Showcase reception. This included an inspirational talk, formal debate, and roundtable discussions—formats designed to encourage critical thinking and open discourse—which was one of my key takeaways from observing the activities of the MIT Free Speech Alliance.

Linda Rabieh from the MIT Concourse Program delivered an inspiring talk entitled “Foundations of Leadership: The Essential Role of Liberal Education in Shaping 21st Century Innovators.” I got to know her through my work with the MIT Free Speech Alliance: she is the faculty advisor for the new student organization, MIT Open Discourse Society.

Rabieh emphasized that successful leaders share four essential character traits for navigating complex problems: intellectual and moral courage, prudence, gentle humanity, and moderation. Additionally, she asserted that leaders must practice critical thinking skills to navigate complex problems:

Critical thinking must begin first by grasping an argument in all of its force and even why that argument might be superior to one's own position. Only then can you begin to assess what's compelling about it or not what's not compelling about it.

These traits, in her view fostered by a liberal education, will produce leaders, such as CIOs, who are also effective citizens in a free republic who promote human flourishing. Rabieh’s message is essential in a world where AI amplifies existing legal, moral, and privacy questions about the use and dissemination of information.

Following this talk, roundtable discussions allowed participants to engage deeply with topics such as AI deployment, the ethical responsibilities of CIOs, and the impact of AI on business. Attendees were encouraged to practice four discussion tactics:

Humility: Accept that we may be wrong
Curiosity: Listen to opposing views with an open mind
Empathy: Belief that differences of opinion come from life experience, not evil or stupidity
Courage: Ability to give minority viewpoints a chance

The pre-event concluded with a formal debate, moderated by Sasha Rickard, the Assistant Director of the MIT Concourse Program. The formal debate addressed the pre-event’s resolution, “Resolved: CIOs must impose ethical constraints on AI development to mitigate serious risks to the organization and society.” The debate format was modeled after the Braver Angels style, but began with two main debaters, one for the affirmative and another for the negative. We also allowed audience members to ask questions or come to the podium to give their own two-minute speech in the affirmative or the negative.

These new pre-event activities provided a platform for diverse perspectives and vigorous, respectful discourse. These activities got positive feedback in the post-event survey.

Plans for 2025 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

CIOs now find themselves at the center of debates about fundamental rights such as free speech. They have an essential role in shaping the future because global conversations depend upon technology developed or deployed by them and their teams. The focus on safetyism (protecting people from offense) and the rise of cancel culture has evolved into calls for government censorship of online speech and regulations of social media platforms (technology). Some see these changes as essential for civil society while others see them as rising authoritarianism within Western Governments. CIOs need to understand the arguments on both sides to deploy technology responsibly.

In 2025 the CIO Symposium will evolve to help CIOs cope with these and other challenges in an increasingly complex world. The annual in-person event will build on the 2024 edition, with roundtable discussions expanded beyond the pre-event (May 19, 2025). They will now be blended into the main event on May 20, 2025.

Additionally, the focus will continue to be on in-person attendees. While many desire a virtual option, we don’t want to distract from the richer in-person experience. Instead, we will marry the CIO Symposium with an exclusive online community. Members of this exclusive online community, who we call Innovators, will enjoy many benefits, including access to tickets to the pre-event and access to discounted tickets for the main event. The pre-event includes an inspirational talk, roundtable discussions, a formal debate, the Innovation Showcase Reception, and the CIO Leadership Award Dinner. Space is limited to sponsors, speakers and Innovators to maximize participation.

Innovators will also be able to engage with each other year-round. We will offer a variety of exclusive virtual events and discussions. We have three formats in mind, but more may be added. First, we will feature speaker presentations with audience Q/A. The format will mirror that used CAMS community (Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan). Second, we will feature podcast-style interviews to explore new books, articles, and papers in depth. Third, we will host Braver Angels-style debates to foster conversations about controversial topics. Some events will be recorded, but others will follow Chatham House Rules to encourage open, honest dialogue.

Our goal is for the online community to extend the conversation beyond the annual Symposium, building a dedicated audience that values critical thinking and open discourse. We believe that by fostering these values, the CIO Symposium will continue to thrive, offering unparalleled opportunities for learning and leadership development.

Technology is changing the world. All citizens have a role in shaping how technology is governed, how we remain grounded by fundamental truths, and how we steer our society toward peace and prosperity. No individual, institution, or government knows the path forward with certainty or can advocate their point of view without bias. Generating a true constitution of knowledge requires engaging and disagreeing with each other vigorously but respectfully. CIOs once deployed technology and then created digital businesses. In the future, CIOs will lead the way as we build machines with knowledge and intelligence beyond anything that mankind has imagined in the past.

As CIOs adapt to these new challenges, the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium will adapt with them.

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