This event is being hosted by Simon Cross, Senior Subject Matter Expert & AI Policy Lead for the Church of England simon.cross@churchofengland.org
Tired of short ‘networking’ slots in events? You are not alone. Tired of video calls? Fancy a break from Slido, and Miro boards, and looking for your virtual Zoom hand? Me too. Me, so very too!
Wonder who else is out there, who are the other good guys working on AI?
Well here’s a chance, the time, and a space needed to meet and start to get to know a wide range of others working on AI from a civil society perspective. A chance to find other good people doing good work on some of the same wicked problems you are. A chance to do some encouraging and to be encouraged, to find common cause.
You are cordially invited to the first (and possibly last ever) AI and Civil Society WHO/HOW
Location: St Frideswide Church, Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0BL
Time: 10:30 (for start at 11:00) - 16:30
Say what?
First the ‘Who’? Who are you and what are the specific ways you can encourage or assist others? A chance to meet and introduce yourself, to find overlaps and get to know others in the room a little better. Anyone from academia, a scrappy small charity, a union, and the institutions and organisations that interlock (or try to) AI related Civil Society in the UK is welcome. This is a deliberately broad invitation so feel free to pass it on as well as coming along yourself.
Then the ‘how’?
Space and time. First, we need to know who’s here, but the outputs that follow are up to you. So the afternoon will be ‘unconference’ style with the chance to explore the ideas that matter most to the people present, to find and then share a longer facilitated conversation with others who care about the same thing(s) you do. Perhaps you can co-discover practical ways to encourage one another or collaborate to strengthen each other’s work. But you’ll have to take responsibility for your own notes and follow up actions.
And ‘why’?
Two reasons. First, virtue ethics. Some things are inherently good and sharing food, conversation and company with other human beings physically rather than virtually is inherently good in so very many empirically uncountable ways.
But secondly, the community - the UK civil society community focussed on AI - is under particular pressure at the start of 2025. So, this is also an experiment in low cost, low overhead community-of-the-community building. If it works, then a practical template is established for others to pick up, to repeat, to improve and to extend the mutual benefits of working in common cause for the common good.
And if it doesn’t work, you can blame me. Though then, afterwards, I’d be grateful if we never speak of it again…
Honestly though, I think it’s going to be surprisingly good and worthwhile!
Simon Cross