Hanna Barakat + AIxDESIGN & Archival Images of AI / Better Images of AI / Textiles and Tech 1 / CC-BY 4.0
About this event
The Technomoral Conversations series brings together leaders, creators and innovators from academia, technology, business and the third sector in a ‘fireside chat’ format to discuss futures that are worth wanting. Focusing on AI and creative labour, this Technomoral Conversation will look at issues ranging from the AI industry’s copyright violations, to the responses from creatives in the UK and elsewhere, to the wider ethical and political questions about the role of AI in creative practice and culture.
This event is part of the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s ‘Making Waves: Spring 2025’ event season, and is run in collaboration with the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) Programme.
Please note this is a hybrid event.
Important notice: This event will be photographed/recorded, and images may be used for future marketing, promotional or archive purposes. If you would prefer not to be photographed, please let organisers know at the event.
Speaker biographies:
Caroline Sinders is an award winning critical designer, researcher, and artist. They’re the founder of human rights and design lab, Convocation Research + Design, and a current BRAID fellow with the University of Arts, London. For the past few years, they have been examining the intersections of artificial intelligence, intersectional justice, harmful design, systems and politics in digital conversational spaces and technology platforms. They’ve worked with the Tate Exchange at the Tate Modern, the United Nations, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office, the European Commission, Ars Electronica, the Harvard Kennedy School and others. Caroline is currently based between London, UK and New Orleans, USA.
Dr Paula Westenberger is a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law and a member of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence at Brunel University of London. She has a Masters and a PhD in IP law from Queen Mary University of London, and is the Deputy Editor of the European Copyright and Design Reports. Her research interests cover the intersection between copyright law, human rights and culture, with a particular focus on the use of digital technologies (including AI) in the cultural heritage sector. She is a BRAID Research Fellow working on the project ‘Responsible AI for Heritage: copyright and human rights perspectives’ in partnership with RBG Kew.
Richard Combes is the Head of Rights and Licensing and Deputy Chief Executive for ALCS. His work focuses on the development of collective rights and licensing schemes in the UK and internationally, aimed at providing writers with fair remuneration for the re-use of their work. This role involves a significant degree of partnership and collaboration with other UK writers’ organisations and licensing bodies as well as authors’ societies and collecting agencies around the world. Richard’s department is also responsible for engaging with UK and EU policy on copyright and authors’ rights – an area of growing prominence on the political agenda – by drafting responses to government consultations, preparing Ministerial briefings and setting the agenda for the All Party Writers’ Group.
Professor Shannon Vallor (Chair) holds the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence in the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy. She is Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and co-Director of the UKRI BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) programme. Professor Vallor's research explores the ethical challenges and opportunities posed by new uses of data and AI, and how these technologies reshape human moral and intellectual character. She is a former AI Ethicist at Google, and advises numerous academic, government and industry bodies on the ethical design and use of AI. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press, 2016), and The AI Mirror (Oxford University Press, 2024).