Disrupt 2026 Expands AI Programming With a New Real World AI Stage

TechCrunch is splitting its AI programming at Disrupt 2026 into two tracks, adding a new Real World AI Stage devoted to artificial intelligence that operates in the physical world. The stage, part of the October 13–15 event at San Francisco's Moscone West, will cover autonomous hardware that has moved beyond self-driving cars into public spaces, defense systems, homes and even efforts to bring extinct species back. The organizer says the programming centers on the blending of digital and physical systems.

The speaker list announced so far includes Ben Lamm, CEO of de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences; Ali Agha, CEO of FieldAI; Michelle Lee, CEO of Medra; Aidan Madigan-Curtis, partner at Eclipse Ventures; Boris Sofman, CEO and co-founder of Bedrock Robotics; Adrian Macneil, CEO of Foxglove; and John Mackey, CEO and co-founder of MBRYONICS. Shield AI is also named among the companies represented, with additional speakers still to come.

Announced sessions include a discussion on how founders of autonomous vehicle, defense and industrial companies decide when a system is safe enough to deploy, an edge-AI panel on building systems where cloud connectivity is limited, and a conversation about moving from prototype to production — the point where the organizer says most deep tech startups fail.

Disrupt 2026 will also feature the returning AI Stage, focused on security gaps and business-model shifts for SaaS companies, and a new Smart Systems Stage covering fusion breakthroughs and grid strain. TechCrunch expects more than 10,000 startup, technology and venture capital leaders to attend. Tickets carry an additional $100 discount for registrations before 11:59 p.m. PT on August 7.

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What the Real World AI Lineup Signals About the Hardware-AI Cycle

The Lineup Points to Where AI Investment Is Shifting

The companies clustered on the new stage — Shield AI in defense, Bedrock Robotics and Foxglove in robotics infrastructure, FieldAI in industrial and space systems, Colossal in computational biology — share a common trait: their products must work in the physical world, where a software error has consequences beyond a wrong answer. That mix is a signal in itself. A major tech conference choosing to showcase these names reflects the broader AI cycle moving from cloud-based software toward embodied systems deployed in factories, vehicles and contested environments. This reading is editorial interpretation of the announced agenda, not a statement of funding data.

The Prototype-to-Production Gap Is Framed as the Core Risk

One session is built explicitly around the idea that most deep tech startups die not at the idea stage but between a working prototype and profitable scale, where supply chains and manufacturing realities replace lab conditions. The framing matches a real characteristic of physical AI: these businesses are capital-intensive and slow to iterate compared with pure software. Notably, the panel includes Eclipse Ventures partner Aidan Madigan-Curtis, a sign that the discussion is aimed as much at investors scouting the space as at the founders building it.

Colossal Puts a Controversial Use Case Onstage

Giving Ben Lamm a fireside chat positions de-extinction — billed by the organizer as a billion-dollar business — as a commercially serious, if debated, corner of the AI-and-biology intersection. The session's stated scope covers AI's role in modern biology and the argument over whether engineering nature is a conservation breakthrough or a distraction. For attendees, the value will be hearing that debate directly from one of its most prominent advocates rather than settling it in advance.

Making the Most of the Real World AI Stage in San Francisco

  • Register before 11:59 p.m. PT on August 7 to claim the extra $100 discount on Disrupt 2026 tickets.
  • If you build autonomous vehicles, defense tech or industrial systems, prioritize the safety-and-deployment session — it is aimed directly at founders deciding when a system is ready to ship.
  • With more than 10,000 startup, tech and VC leaders expected at Moscone West from October 13–15, treat the floor as the venue for meeting the physical-AI ecosystem the new stage represents.
  • For robotics startups, the prototype-to-production panel with Bedrock Robotics and Foxglove maps to the scaling questions most likely to decide whether a hardware company survives.