Meet the speaker

What inspired you to become an expert in AI? I’m not a fan of the term "expert"—I see myself more as an AI enthusiast. I like to approach AI from an outsider's perspective, staying grounded and avoiding the hype. My journey started with a background in computer science and early experience as a developer. About 7–8 years ago, during the rise of big data, I decided to specialize in this field and completed a master’s in data science. Looking back, it was the right move. My passion for data—extracting insights, making predictions, and solving problems—made AI a natural evolution in my career.   What will you be speaking about at the conference, and why is it especially important right now? I’ll be talking about the intersection of humans and AI, with a focus on Agents. Agents are a game-changer—they don’t just provide information; they can autonomously complete tasks. This shift is unlocking new ways to create value by automating processes, driving efficiency, and cutting costs. It’s a critical topic because we’re moving beyond AI as a tool to AI as a true collaborator. We’re moving beyond AI as a tool to AI as a true collaborator What key takeaway do you hope attendees will gain from your session? AI is no longer a promise—it’s here, and it’s real. The challenge now is proving its value. I want the audience to move beyond the hype and focus on where AI can drive the biggest business impact. It’s about seeing through the noise and identifying real opportunities.   What trends or developments in AI excite you and concern you the most? I’m excited about Agents and the potential of more advanced models fueled by greater data and computation. We’re just scratching the surface, but this also comes with challenges. AI will transform how we work, live, and interact—with each other and with AI itself. My biggest concern is whether society is ready for this shift. Adapting to this new paradigm requires preparation, and we need to learn from past mistakes to navigate the changes responsibly.   What advice would you give to someone looking to develop in AI? Avoid shortcuts. If you’re serious about a career in AI, focus on building strong foundations. AI is much more than tools like ChatGPT or LLMs—it’s math, algebra, calculus, statistics, data, coding and more. Take the time to master the basics. With so many self-proclaimed "AI experts" out there, real knowledge is what will set you apart.

What inspired you to become an expert in AI Ethics? About 8 years ago, I was working with a team creating a digital mental health service that used AI. We were worried about why anyone would trust us enough to provide their very personal health data that we needed to train the model; and also whether they'd trust the recommendations of an AI! From these worries was born our ethics strategy, which I led the development and delivery of. I was amazed by how motivating employees found it, and also how clients also really responded positively. I have never looked back since.   What will you be speaking about at the conference, and why is it especially important right now? I will be talking about how to balance innovation and responsibility in AI. Specifically, I will be making the case that we need to move beyond a compliance mindset, and make using AI responsibly and ethically an integral part of business and product strategy. With all of the buzz around AI right now, I see a lot of organisations just trying something because it's cool, without really thinking about how it actually supports and adds to how they already create value for their customers, and also the trust that they have built with those customers, often over years. Building in AI ethics from the start helps to maintain, and even strengthen, that valuable trust.   Building in AI ethics from the start helps to maintain, and even strengthen, that valuable trust. What key takeaway do you hope attendees will gain from your session? Well I hope that one takeaway is that ethics is not scary! Perhaps more importantly, I want attendees to take away that they are already making ethical decisions in their organisations: for example decisions about how much data to collect to train models vs customer privacy. The question is if these decisions are being made solely from a commercial position, or are other perspectives also being taken into account.   What trends or developments in AI Ethics excite you and concern you the most? Building on my previous response, I am most concerned with how people are trying to push out references to ethics, and instead refer to responsibility. Firstly, I don't think that we need to do this as ethics is not scary; and secondly, it means that we miss out on the benefit of drawing on thousands of years of ethical thinking across all cultures.   What advice would you give to someone looking to develop in AI Ethics? As AI ethics develops as a field, I can see that it is starting to specialise. There will definitely be a need for more strategic thinking of the kind I do, but also an increasing need for those who can really help organisations implement ethically; the EU AI Act will especially drive this. So for someone looking to develop in AI ethics, I would advise them to take a look at the kind of roles available - the All Tech is Human jobs board is a great place to start - and see what kind of roles they are attracted to.

What inspired you to become an expert in AI? Serendipity has played a major role in my career choices and AI was no exception. My original expertise was in IT infrastructure, particularly storage and virtualisation, and from there I became progressively involved in Hadoop and Big Data projects with US West Coast customers, particularly scale-ups. Machine Learning started to be applied in the mid-2010s, and soon afterwards I became involved in Computer Vision and Transformer-based projects. For me it was not so much inspiration as much as being at the right place at the right time, and of course recognising the potential of integrating inferences in applications, which is what we now call Artificial Intelligence.   What will you be speaking about at the conference, and why is it especially important right now? Our field is moving very fast and Silicon Valley thrives on noise, chaos and confusion. AI remains shrouded in both mythology and speculative projections, and we need to make conversations more grounded in order to facilitate adoption and make real the much-vaunted industrial revolution 4.0. My presentation will help senior decision makers, be it C-suite, investors or entrepreneurs, to understand the "here and now" of AI in 2025, showing how AI is being implemented and with copious, concrete examples of projects around the world where innovation is being brought into production.   Before developing in AI, ensure that you learn how to think critically. This will be the most important skill in the era of AI What key takeaway do you hope attendees will gain from your session? Without giving away the plot, I will simply tell you that AI is a misnomer and that differentiation needs to be grounded on data. There is also considerable cultural and organisational work required in order to adopt it.   What trends or developments in AI excite you and concern you the most? For me it is exciting that the technology is now widely available to all citizens on earth who have internet connectivity and speak a major language, and more languages are being added. This fact alone is helping hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to get access to the same educational tools as those in the richest countries on earth. My biggest concern is that AI disintermediates human collaboration and people spend more time working and living alone, which is something that humankind is not prepared for.   What advice would you give to someone looking to develop in AI? Before developing in AI, ensure that you learn how to think critically. This will be the most important skill in the era of AI. Then research the field and select some people that you can trust and follow. In my case, I follow Andrew Ng, Andrej Karpathy, Yann LeCun and Gary Marcus, and they have very contrasting viewpoints - particularly LeCun and Marcus. This helps me to acquire a balanced view. If you have a technical background, there are many platforms available to pick up elementary skills; a good place to start is deeplearning.ai. And something I recommend not to do is to scroll through AI newsletters, posts and tweets that are mostly noise from people clamoring for attention. For your own mental health, filter all that out and reduce news intake from people that you can trust.

What inspired you to become an expert in cybersecurity? Having witnessed firsthand how geopolitics can disrupt economies and lives, I was attracted to cyber security as the new invisible frontline of global security. With a background in diplomacy and financial services, I’ve seen how fragile trust can be—and helping to protect it through innovation is hugely rewarding. Mr role at Glasswall allows me to combine a strategic lens with cutting-edge technology to address this critical challenge. What will you be speaking about at the conference, and why is it especially important right now? I’ll explore how AI is transforming both the opportunities and threats in cyber security. In a world of escalating cyber risks and increasing AI-enabled attacks, it’s key to outthink adversaries with the same tools they deploy. The stakes have never been higher for businesses, governments, and individuals. The promise of AI to revolutionise threat detection is exciting. It means attacks can be identified in milliseconds rather than minutes. What key takeaway do you hope attendees will gain from your session? AI is a double-edged sword. Harness it with intent, and you can safeguard the future; neglect it, and you risk enabling threats you can’t control. Attendees will leave with actionable insights into leveraging AI to build resilience and trust in a hyper-connected, vulnerable world. What trends or developments in AI excite you and concern you the most? The promise of AI to revolutionise threat detection is exciting. It means attacks can be identified in milliseconds rather than minutes. But my concern is the democratisation of AI-powered cyber weapons; it’s not just nation-states, but any motivated actor who can disrupt lives on an unprecedented scale. What advice would you give to someone looking to develop in the intersection between AI and cybersecurity? Marry curiosity with urgency. Dive deep into the mechanics of AI and the psychology of adversaries. Build a mindset of perpetual learning—cyber threats evolve daily, and so must your understanding. Above all, focus on solutions that prioritise trust and resilience.