2025 MIT AI Conference - Startup Exchange Lightning Talks

Matt Carpenter holds degrees in Computer Engineering (Purdue University) and Mechatronic Systems (Lawrence Technological University). He served on the Board of Directors of Detroit's largest makerspace for several years and held several engineering, manufacturing, and human-centered-design roles over a seven-year career at Ford Motor Company. Since then, he has been bringing advanced tech and AI to forestry as cofounder and Head of Product at Gaia AI.

Mollie Breen is the Co-founder & CEO of Perygee, an AI-native digital enterprise fabric that ties together siloed systems with powerful automations & interfaces so enterprise teams can answer any question about their environment and automate any workflow—in minutes not months. Before co-founding Perygee, she was a mathematician at the NSA, leading initiatives at the intersection of national security and AI. Mollie is a recognized thought leader in IT & security automation, advising IT & security teams as a faculty member with IANS Research. Mollie is agraduate of Duke University and Harvard Business School

Ido Levy, Founder and CEO of SafeModeMobility, is an award-winning entrepreneur recognized for his work in using Behavioral Science and Artificial Intelligence to develop cutting-edge solutions for the transportation industry, especially the notable SafeMode driver engagement platform. He has received several accolades, including being named a "top young entrepreneur" by the European Union, "Rising Star of the Year -under 30" by TU-Automotive, "Inspiration of the Year under 30" by Informa Tech, and winning the SAE WCX Connected Cars Challenge. Prior to starting SafeMode, Ido served as an officer in a counter-terrorism unit in the military.

Sacha recently completed his PhD from MIT CSAIL where his research was focused on cryptography and privacy-preserving systems. Sacha cofounded Tinfoil to tackle the increasing privacy and security issues associated with AI applications.

Jeff Feldgoise is Co-founder and CEO of getIntro, a company that builds valuable sales connections for professionals and businesses by scaling warm introductions across trusted networks. Previously, he led software engineering and data science teams in the health tech industry, building AI products that reached over 100,000 patients and 1,000 clinicians in more than 60 countries. Earlier in his career, Jeff was a product leader in fintech, where he launched ground-breaking online trading platforms and robo-advisory services for millions of individual investors. Jeff holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT, where he studied architecture and computer science, blending design with engineering to create user-focused solutions.

Yujie Wang is an AI product leader, Human-Computer Interaction researcher, and a serial entrepreneur. He has a background in Human-Computer Interaction from MIT and Harvard, focusing on wearable computing, Brain-Computer Interfaces, voice/digital biomarkers, and sleep/circadian science. Yujie has research experience at MIT Media Lab and Harvard Medical School, and professional experience building category-defining products across diverse industries, including preventative healthcare, smart home, supply chain, precision agriculture, and autonomous driving. His expertise spans PM, engineering, and UX, honed at global innovators like Philips Healthcare, IKEA Home Smart, Maersk, and FaunaPhotonics. Yujie takes innovation from ideas to commercialization. He shapes human relationships with machines and the environment, building products that cultivate empathy, trust, and care.

Dr. Lorenzo Benedetti, 30, was born in a small village in the centreof Italy. In 2013 he moved to Milan, where he currently lives, to study mechanical and management engineering at Politecnico. Following graduation, he obtained a PhD working between Politecnico and MIT, with a focus on bridge monitoring. Since 2023, Lorenzo is the CEO of Displaid, a startup born to guarantee the safety and efficiency of transportation networks through a scalable bridge monitoring solution. When he is not talking about technology and bridges, you can find him watching a football match, exploring the world or cooking something.

Rickard Brüel Gabrielsson is an AI researcher from Stanford and MIT, a lecturer for MIT’s Foundation Models & Generative AI course, and co-founder of Unbox AI.

Marco Turchetti is a Co-Founder and Head of Device Research at Eva, where he leads the effort to develop proton gated transistors for next-generation AI hardware. Prior to this, Marco earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, working on petahertz nanoelectronics andquantum electron microscopy, and worked at IBM as a Quantum Hardware Developer, focusing on superconducting nanotechnologies for quantum computing.

With years of hands-on experience in steel piping and automotive plants, and a track record of leading computer vision initiatives at General Motors, Jack has always operated at the intersection of finance and production. At GM, he spearheaded AI-driven solutions to tackle supply chain and production challenges at scale. Through this journey—whether in massive factories orsmall shops like his cofounder’s dad’s factory—Jack uncovered a common thread: an underlying information gap that consistently drives production errors. That insight sparked a mission to bridge that gap with real-time, intelligent systems that bring clarity to the factory floor.