UPCOMING EVENT

Governing at the Speed of AI

A High-Level Evening on International Coordination for
Crisis Preparedness at UNGA 81

Thursday, September 24, 2026 | 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, Delegates Dining Room, UN Headquarters

OVERVIEW

AI Safety Connect at UNGA 81
Thursday, 24 September 2026 | UN Headquarters

Governing at the Speed of AI is an invitation-only evening convening 300 heads of State, Ministers, senior diplomats, frontier AI leaders and leading experts at the United Nations Headquarters during the High-Level Week of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 81). As AI capabilities and risks advance at unprecedented speed, this gathering offers a rare setting to advance multilateral coordination toward safe, secure and trustworthy AI, align priorities across sectors and forge the relationships that international governance will require. The event is hosted by AI Safety Connect and co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of Canada, Estonia and Kenya to the United Nations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, United Nations Foundation, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Register your Interest here ↗

Hosted by AI Safety Connect, Supported by Minderoo Foundation

Hosted by AI Safety Connect, Supported by Minderoo Foundation

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Confirmed Speakers

H.E. Alar Karis

President of Estonia

H.E. Alar Karis

President of Estonia

H.E. Dr. Justin Nsengiyumva

Prime Minister of Rwanda

H.E. Dr. Justin Nsengiyumva

Prime Minister of Rwanda

H.E. Paula Ingabire

Minister of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda

H.E. Paula Ingabire

Minister of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda

Senator Jerry McNerney

California State Senator,‎ ‎ ‎ District 5

Senator Jerry McNerney

California State Senator,‎ ‎ ‎ District 5

Dr. Andrew Forrest AO

Executive Chairman and Founder of Fortescue, Founder of Minderoo Foundation and Tattarang

Arthur Franzon

Deputy Ambassador for AI and Digital Affairs, France

Arthur Franzon

Deputy Ambassador for AI and Digital Affairs, France

Mr. Cyrus Hodes

Co-Founder, AI Safety Connect

Chris Meserole

Executive Director, Frontier Model Forum

Chris Meserole

Executive Director, Frontier Model Forum

Dr. Claire Melamed

Vice-President, UN Foundation

Dr. Claire Melamed

Vice-President, UN Foundation

David Lametti

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York

David Lametti

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York

Dr. Gabriela Ramos

Dr. Gabriela Ramos

Senior fellow at Institute for Artificial Intelligence Policy and Practice (IAPS), former Additional DG UNESCO and former OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20

Dr. Gabriela Ramos

Dr. Gabriela Ramos

Senior fellow at Institute for Artificial Intelligence Policy and Practice (IAPS), former Additional DG UNESCO and former OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20

Jaan Tallinn

Founder of Skype and Kazaa, Investor

Jaan Tallinn

Founder of Skype and Kazaa, Investor

Haoliang Xu

UN Under-Secretary-General, UNDP Associate Administrator

Haoliang Xu

UN Under-Secretary-General, UNDP Associate Administrator

Maria Ressa

CEO, Rappler & Co-Chair, Independent Scientific Panel on AI

Maria Ressa

CEO, Rappler & Co-Chair, Independent Scientific Panel on AI

Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson

First woman President of Ireland (former) and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson

First woman President of Ireland (former) and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Michael Sellitto

Head of International Policy, Anthropic

Michael Sellitto

Head of International Policy, Anthropic

Natasha Crampton

Natasha Crampton

Vice President and Chief Responsible AI Officer, Microsoft

Natasha Crampton

Natasha Crampton

Vice President and Chief Responsible AI Officer, Microsoft

Mr. Nicolas Miailhe

Co-Founder, AI Safety Connect

Mr. Nicolas Miailhe

Co-Founder, AI Safety Connect

Robert Opp

Chief Digital Officer, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Xiao Qian

Xiao Qian

Vice-Dean for AI International Governance, Deputy Director, Center for International Security, Tsinghua University

Xiao Qian

Xiao Qian

Vice-Dean for AI International Governance, Deputy Director, Center for International Security, Tsinghua University

Prof. Yoshua Bengio

Scientific Director, LawZero & Co-Chair, Independent Scientific Panel on AI

Prof. Yoshua Bengio

Scientific Director, LawZero & Co-Chair, Independent Scientific Panel on AI

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Previous Participants

H.E. Dick Schoof

Prime Minister of the Netherlands

H.E. Josephine Teo

Minister for Digital Development and Information, Government of Singapore

H.E. Gobind Singh Deo

Minister of Digital, Government of Malaysia

Hon’ble Minister Shri Duddilla Sridhar Babu

Minister for Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, Industries & Commerce, and Legislative Affairs, State Government of Telangana, Government of India

H.E. Amandeep Singh Gill

Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations

H.E. Philip Thigo

Special Envoy on Technology, Government of Kenya

H.E. Anne Marie Engtoft Meldgaard

Tech Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Denmark

Secretary General Mathias Cormann

Secretary-General of the OECD

H.E. Ambassador Egriselda López

Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations

H.E. Ambassador Rein Tammsaar

Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations

Prof. Stuart Russell

Director, The International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI)

Sangbu Kim

Vice President for Digital, World Bank

Sangbu Kim

Vice President for Digital, World Bank

Dr. Eileen Donahoe

Former U.S. Special Envoy and Coordinator for Digital Freedom & Ambassador to the UNHRC; Founder and Managing Partner, Sympatico Ventures

Baroness Joanna Shields

Executive Chairman, Responsible AI Future Foundation (RAIFF)

Dr. Renata Dwan

Director, Tech Policy, Simon Institute

Dr. Chinmay Pandya

Pro Vice Chancellor, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya University

Dr. Adam Gleave

CEO, FAR.AI

Prof. Mohan Kankanhalli

Director, AI Institute, National University of Singapore

will.i.am

Founder and CEO, FYI.AI; Goodwill Ambassador, AI Skills Coalition; Member, AI for Global Good Commission

will.i.am

Founder and CEO, FYI.AI; Goodwill Ambassador, AI Skills Coalition; Member, AI for Global Good Commission

Jaan Tallinn

AI Investor & Founding Engineer, of Skype and Kazaa; co-founder, Future of Life Institute

Jaan Tallinn

AI Investor & Founding Engineer, of Skype and Kazaa; co-founder, Future of Life Institute

Amlan Mohanty

Fellow, Carnegie India & Lead Writer, India AI Governance Guidelines

Amitabh Kant

Former India G20 Sherpa & Former CEO, NITI Aayog

Samir Chhabra

Director-General, Marketplace Framework Policy, Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada & Deputy Executive Director of the Canadian AI Safety Institute, Government of Canada

Abhishek Venkateswaran

National Project Officer, UNESCO India

Father Paolo Benanti

AI Advisor to Pope Francis

Prof. Jeanna Matthews

Professor of Computer Science, Clarkson University

Chris Pease

President and CEO, Foundation for Agentic Networks

Apoorv Iyer

Executive Vice President, HCLTech

Owen Larter

Senior Director and Head of Frontier Policy and Public Affairs, Google DeepMind

Owen Larter

Senior Director and Head of Frontier Policy and Public Affairs, Google DeepMind

Joslyn Barnhart

Senior Research Scientist, Google DeepMind

Rebecca Finlay

CEO, Partnership on AI

Dr. Rumman Chowdhury

CEO and Founder, Humane Intelligence

Ashish Tewari

Head, Responsible AI Office, Infosys

Prof. Balaraman Ravindran

Director, Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI), IIT Madras India

Prof. Virginia Dignum

Director, AI Policy Lab, Umeå University & Member, UN High Level Advisory Body on AI

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TENTATIVE PROGRAM

TENTATIVE PROGRAM

6:00PM - 6:20PM

Welcome & Doors Open

6:20PM - 6:30PM

Welcome Address

6:30PM - 6:40PM

Opening Keynotes (Head of State Level)

6:40PM - 6:45PM

Rapporteur

6:45PM - 7:10PM


7:30PM-7:50PM


Government in Action Panel

7:10PM - 7:20PM

Transition + Buffer time (10 mins)

7:20PM - 7:45PM

Panel: Operationalizing Crisis Preparedness

7:45PM - 7:55PM

Transition + Buffer time (10 mins)

7:55PM - 8:00PM

Fireside Chat to Introduce the Industry Panel

8:00PM - 8:15PM

Industry Panel/Lighting Round Option

8:15PM - 8:35PM

Closing Remarks

8:35PM - 9:05PM

Reception Break

9:05PM - 9:25PM

Reception Briefs

9:25PM - 11:00PM

Reception Extension

Register your Interest here ↗

Where the world meets to make AI safe

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About

Team

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Where the world meets to make AI safe

Home

About

Team

Events

Careers

Contact

Where the world meets to make AI safe

Home

About

Team

Events

Careers

Contact

Where the world meets to make AI safe

Home

About

Team

Events

Careers

Contact

H.E. Dick Schoof

Prime Minister of the Netherlands

Secretary General Mathias Cormann

Secretary-General of the OECD

H.E Josephine Teo

Minister for Digital Development and Information of Singapore

Mr. Jaan Tallinn

AI Investor & Founding Engineer, of Skype and Kazaa; co-founder, Future of Life Institute

H.E. Gobind Singh Deo

Minister of Digital, Malaysia

Dr. Gabriela Ramos

Co-Chair of the Task Force on Inequalities and Social Financial Disclosure & Former Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO

Mr. Sangbu Kim

World Bank's Vice President for Digital

Prof. Stuart Russell

Director, The International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI)

H.E. Anne Marie Engtoft Meldgaard

Tech Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Denmark

Dr. Chinmay Pandya

Pro Vice Chancellor, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya University

Dr. Renata Dwan

Director, Tech Policy, Simon Institute

Prof. Yoshua Bengio

Scientific Director, LawZero

H.E. Ambassador Egriselda López

Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the UN

H.E. Ambassador Rein Tammsaar

Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN

Hon’ble Minister Shri Duddilla Sridhar Babu

Minister for Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, Industries & Commerce, and Legislative Affairs, State Government of Telangana

Mr. Chris Meserole

Executive Director at the Frontier Model Forum

Ms. Rajni Singh

Big Data & AI Senior Manager, Accenture

Shri Sanjay Kumar

Special Chief Secretary, Industry, Commerce, IT & Communications, State Government of Telangana

Ms. Sunita Patnaik

Partner, DGA Group

Prof. Mohan Kankanhalli

Director, AI Institute, National University of Singapore

Dr. Adam Gleave

CEO, FAR.AI

Mr. Austin Mayron

Acting Director of the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation

Mr. Amlan Mohanty

Fellow, Carnegie India & Lead Writer, India AI Governance Guidelines

Mr. Amitabh Kant

Former India G20 Sherpa & Former CEO of NITI Aayog

Dr. Andrew Forrest

Founder, Minderoo Foundation

Mr. Samir Chhabra

Director-General, Marketplace Framework Policy, Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada & Deputy Executive Director of the Canadian AI Safety Institute, Government of Canada

Mr. Abhishek Venkateswaran

National Project Officer, UNESCO India

Dr. Claire Melamed

Vice President, AI and Digital Cooperation, United Nations Foundation

Prof. Jeanna Matthews

Professor of Computer Science, Clarkson University

Father Paolo Benanti

AI Advisor to Pope Francis (virtual)

Dr. Jason Hoelscher-Obermaier

Director of Research, Apart Research

Mr. Chris Pease

President and CEO, Foundation for Agentic Networks

Ms. Amanda Craig

General Manager, Responsible AI Public Policy, Microsoft

Mr. Apoorv Iyer

Executive Vice President | HCLTech

Mr. Combiz Abdolrahimi

Global Head of Government Affairs & Public Policy at ServiceNow

Ms. Joslyn Barnhart

Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind

Mr. Ashish Tewari

Head — Responsible AI Office, Infosys

Prof. Balaraman Ravindran

Director, Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI), IIT Madras India

Mr. Bruno Galizzi

Senior Policy Associate, SaferAI

Dr. Carina Prunkl

Researcher, INRIA (Regalia); Lead Writer, 2026 International AI Safety Report

Dr. Chloé Touzet

Policy Lead, SaferAI

Mr. Christian Troncoso

Principal, Global AI Policy at Amazon Web Services

Mr. Connor Dunlop

Director of Strategy, Lucid Computing

Mr. Cyrus Hodes

Co-Founder, AI Safety Connect

Mr. Denise Wong

Assistant Chief Executive, Data Protection and Innovation Group, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore.

Dr. Eileen Donahoe

Former U.S. Special Envoy and Coordinator for Digital Freedom & Ambassador to the UNHRC; Founder and Managing Partner, Sympatico Ventures

Ms. Gaia Marcus

Director, Ada Lovelace Institute

Mr. Frederic Werner

Chief, Strategic Engagement, International Telecommunications Union

Prof. Hemant Bhargava

Distinguished Professor, UC Davis

Ms. Imane Bello

Multilateral Engagement Lead, Future of Life Institute

Baroness Joanna Shields

Executive Chairman, Responsible AI Future Foundation (RAIFF)

Ms. Karine Perset

Deputy Head of AI and Emerging Digital Technologies Division, OECD.AI, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Prof. Kee-Eung Kim

Director, National AI Research Lab of Korea

Ms. Lucilla Sioli

Director of the European AI Office, European Commission

Dr. Mark Nitzberg

Interim Executive Director, IASEAI

Mr. Michael Sellitto

Head of Global Affairs, Anthropic

Ms. Natasha Crampton

Chief Responsible AI Officer at Microsoft

Mr. Nicolas Miailhe

Co-Founder, AI Safety Connect

Ms. Nicole Foster

Director of Global Affairs at Amazon Web Services

Ms. Niki Iliadis

Director Global AI Governance, The Future Society

Mr. Owen Larter

Senior Director and Head of Frontier Policy and Public Affairs at Google DeepMind

Mr. Osama Manzar

Founder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation

Ms. Pauline Charazac

Head of Policy Engagement, CeSIA

Prof. Pulkit Verma

Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras

Ms. Rebecca Finlay

CEO at Partnership on AI

Prof. Robert Trager

Co-Director, Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative

Mr. Robert Opp

Chief, Strategic Engagement, International Chief Digital Officer, United Nations Development Programme

Dr. Rumman Chowdhury

CEO and Founder, Humane Intelligence

Prof. Sarah Erfani

Professor, University of Melbourne

Mr. Stephen Clare

Lead Writer, International Safety Report

Ms. Stephanie Ifayemi

Senior Managing Director of Policy, Partnership on AI

Ms. Terah Lyons

Managing Director & Global Head of AI & Data Policy at JPMorgan Chase

Dr. Urvashi Aneja

Founder & Director, Digital Futures Lab

Prof. Yannis Ioannidis

President of the Association for Computing Machinery

Prof. Virginia Dignum

Director, AI Policy Lab, Umeå University & Member, UN High Level Advisory Body on AI