TAIC: The uneven distribution of AI's promise

The gap between cutting-edge AI research and its "last-mile" applications in low- and middle-income countries remains stubbornly large. Closing it requires more than better models: it takes organisations deliberately partnering to put AI capabilities in service of the world's most pressing problems. There are far too few organizations focused on that today at the necessary scale. This talk unpacks what that coordination work actually involves, with concrete examples from UN-led efforts. The discussion afterwards will pick up where the talk leaves off. Which mechanisms for making AI's benefits reach everyone deserve the biggest investment? Can the institutions we already have deliver them — and if not, what new institutions do we need to build? These are the questions we want to hear the room's answers to, not just the speaker's. We're joined by Katya Klinova, Head of AI for Humanitarian and Development Action at the UN Secretary-General's Innovation Lab, where she builds the infrastructure for delivering beneficial AI capabilities the market is failing to deliver. She previously founded the AI and Shared Prosperity Initiative at the Partnership on AI, and her work has appeared in MIT Technology Review, Brookings, WIRED, and Al Jazeera, among others.