Towards a People's AI Charter
Event:
This is the launch of the UK & Ireland IEEE Section SSIT, Society on Social Implications of Technology Annual Public Lecture, focused on a technology matter of significant societal interest and impact. This lecture is aimed at providing a status report on the AI trajectory, explore the global legal frameworks for regulation and present the case for a People's AI Charter on behalf of the global citizens. This event is a joint collaboration between SSIT and the AI Community of Practice (AI CoP).
Abstract:
The recent media debate sparked by the allegations by Anthropic staff and the surprising cyber attacks by agentic AI escapees in the Open AI case has raised the global concern about existential threat posed by advancing AI technologies that have not been to the best practice assurance processes and precautionary measures common place in safety, security and sustainability domains.
The 2014 book, Superintelligence, by the philosopher Nick Bostrom did much the same, raising concerns over the risk of humanity’s demise by AI, recently echoed by Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel prize winner for his pioneering work on AI.
The ingenuity of AI Agents in subverting designer’s intentions in the recent Open AI case is alarming since it imputes deceitful intent in the agents’ behaviour akin to the propensity to go rogue autonomously. Against this backdrop, the investment levels in the AI corporations, model development and specialised GPU sectors are staggering, running in hundreds of $billions and hype driven. The European AI Act was heralded as the most comprehensive attempt at social and economic prudence and protection against AI risks posed to agency, rights, values and privacy of citizens. Lately, a few initiatives by the Secretary General at the UN have resulted in the formation of an AI Advisory Body and publication of Governing AI for Humanity foundational report in 2024 and Global Dialogue on AI Governance in 2026. The key warnings and concerns regarding AI being, existential and safety risks, military use in autonomous weapons and warfare and emergence of an AI opportunity and divide require a consistent, effective and consensus driven oversight and regulation globally.
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- Co-sponsored by Ai Community of Practice
- Starts 10 November 2026 05:00 PM UTC
- Ends 10 December 2026 12:00 AM UTC
- No Admission Charge
Speakers
Caroline of City St George's University
AI, Current and near Horizon Trajectory and its Global Implications
Biography:
Prof Caroline LI, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, City St George's University
Prof. Caroline Li is a member of the UNU Macau Advisory Board. She is Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Data Analytics at City St George’s, University of London; Chair of the IEEE UK & Ireland Computer Chapter; Co‑Ordinator of the IEEE Computer Society in Region 8 (Area 2); and Chair of the IEEE Computer Society in Region 8 (Area 2) Committee, covering the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
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Trish
The Global and Legal Foundations & Rationale for an AI Charter
Biography:
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Ali of Ai Community of Practice
The Context and Approach to a People's AI Charter
Biography:
Prof Ali Hessami is the chair of the UK & Ireland Section SSIT and the Founder and Process Architect at AI Community of Practice
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Keeley of Manchester Metropolitan University
The Current Work on a People’s AI Charter
Biography:
Prof Keeley Crockett, Professor of Computational Intelligence, Manchester Metropolitan University
Keeley Crockett SMIEEE SFHEA is a Professor in Computational Intelligence at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has over 27 years’ experience of research and development in Ethical and responsible AI (for both SME’s and an advocate for citizen voice), computational intelligence algorithms and applications, including adaptive psychological profiling, fuzzy systems, semantic similarity, and dialogue systems. Keeley has led work on Place based practical Artificial Intelligence, facilitating a parliamentary inquiry with Policy Connect and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Data Analytics (APGDA), leading to the inquiry report “Our Place Our Data: Involving Local People in Data and AI-Based Recovery”. She is one of the five EPSRC Public Engagement Champions and was PI on the EPSRC “PEAs in Pods: Co-production of community based public engagement for data and AI research.” One of the co-produced outputs from this project is the first People’s Charter for AI co-created with community members across Greater Manchester and Salford. Keeley was one on the Founders of the People Panel for AI, funded originally by The Alan Turing Institute and adopted in 2024 by Manchester City Council.
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Agenda
18:00- Welcome & Scene setting Prof Ali Hessami, SSIT Chapter Chair & AI CoP
18:10- AI, current and near horizon trajectory and its global implications Prof Caroline Li, Computer Chapter Chair & City St George's University
18:25- The Global and Legal Foundations & rationale for an AI Charter Trish Shaw, LLB, LLM & AI CoP
18:40- The Current Work on a People’s AI Charter Prof Keeley Crockett, Manchester Metropolitan University & AI CoP
18:55- Our Plans, Invitation and Way Forward Prof Ali Hessami
19:00- Q&A