The opening message after the AI video was that Bits & Pretzels 2026 wanted attendees to carry one shared question through the next three days: what future are they helping make more likely? The hosts emphasized that the point was not to force people to choose between the video’s positive, negative, or neutral voices on AI, but to use the tension as a conversation starter. They specifically named security, the labor market, and financial markets as areas attendees should think about, and urged people at the coffee bar not to begin with the usual “what are you building?” Instead, they asked the community to first ask one another where they stand on the AI-related questions raised by the video, and only then connect those views to what they are building and in which direction their work may push the future.