📣 We are launching the Planetary AI Keynote Series titled ‘AI Futures’.
This series is designed for us to discuss risks and opportunities of AI, AI governance, and most importantly radical ways of organising our economies and societies in the future.
Our world does not have to be determined and made by the tech giants. We need to envision alternatives for a just and equal world.
We will be hosting leading thinkers for conversations on developing visions for radically different futures.
To do so, we have a stellar line up of speakers for the 2026 series:
- Prof. Jack Stilgoe (UCL).
- Prof. Paula Ricuarte Quijano(Tecnológico de Monterrey).
- Prof. Nick Couldry (The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Our series kicks off in February 2026 with Prof. Jack Stilgoe who will be speaking on the ‘Implications and Inferences: Rethinking Responsible Innovation in AI.
Abstract:
The scale and speed of AI’s development challenge social scientists’ capacity to make sense of and respond to what’s going on. Talk of ‘Responsible AI’ and ‘Responsible Innovation’ might seem naive. But I regard the project of examining the politics of AI as more important than ever. It is not clear what the true logic of artificial intelligence is, but we should certainly reject the technologically determinist logic that has been allowed to shape public debate. We social scientists are conventionally cast as observers of AI’s social implications. If we are to open up new directions for AI and find constructive roles for public voices and social research, we need to assert more strongly that, like the developers of AI, we are interested not in what AI implies but what AI infers. Beyond the technical sense of AI inference – the process by which trained models are used to predict and generate – AI companies and policymakers make constant inferences about society, the economy and how to build sustainable business models. Democratic responses to AI should start with a clearer picture of such inferences.Â
Prof. Stilgoe is Professor in Science and Technology Studies at the University College London. He is the Deputy Chair of Ecosystem Co-ordination at the UKRI Responsible AI. He previously worked in science and technology policy at the Royal Society and the think tank Demos. He is a fellow of the Turing Institute and a trustee of the Royal Institution.
This event is being jointly organised by the Planetary AI project and the Digital Economy and Research Cluster at the University of Edinburgh, with support from the UKRI and the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
The keynote will be recorded and made available on our website after the event.
Go to the Eventbrite to book your place for Jack’s lecture:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/implications-and-inferences-rethinking-responsible-innovation-in-ai-tickets-1980646049652
Prof. Ricuarte and Prof. Couldry will be speaking in June 2026. Revisit our website later for further details of the keynote and how to register.
We will be updating the line up for 2027 speakers soon.