Greg Baran

Greg leads AI Empowerment seminars and workshops designed for people who do not come from technical backgrounds. His approach goes beyond teaching which buttons to push: he explains what AI is and is not, how language and context shape its responses, why hallucinations and misinformation occur, and why human supervision remains essential as AI becomes part of everyday life.

His perspective is grounded in more than three decades of work with technology and organizational change. Greg began at UCLA in 1992 and later moved into information technology with UCLA’s Department of Medicine, leading teams through major technology transitions, large-scale IT migrations, and organizational consolidation. Those experiences shaped a practical view: powerful tools create extraordinary possibilities, but successful adoption still depends on the people using them and the judgment applied to them.

Today, Greg brings that experience into community education through introductory and advanced AI programs, including workshops developed for older adults, covering practical AI use, prompting, research, creativity, and misinformation.

He is the author of The Othello Metaphor and Finding Forgiveness, along with the music-and-reflection companion Finding Forgiveness Reflections. His developing work, Hi, I’m Greg: The Art of Active Communication, explores communication as presence, intent, interpretation, connection, and the meaning people create together.

On the back fence of my home is a mural: the word LOVE, surrounded by the Greek letters for Alpha and Omega. Above it are three dates: July 2, 1988, the day my wife and I first kissed; July 27, 1991, our wedding day; and November 24, 2021, the day she died.

Imagine you live in a village. Since childhood, you walked the same path to the river every day for over 30 years. Then one morning you wake up and there is no path. How do you find the river? I first had to lose myself. Along the way, I developed a mantra: I have no name. I am a vessel. I serve Grazynka’s Place.

You might refer to it as Unconditional Love for All, you might refer to it as God. I refer to it as Grazynka’s Place, after my wife who showed me how to find my way there.

My wife could walk into a room with ten strangers and walk out with ten friends. I was the opposite. Today I walk into a room and see family unmet. That is what my wife’s legacy taught me, and it is why I now help others through common sense, authentic communication, and personal connection.