Universities and the Future of Truth: AI, Free Speech, and Power

Name: Universities and the Future of Truth: AI, Free Speech, and Power
Start: 2026-09-17T18:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-09-17T19:30:00+01:00
Location: Edinburgh Futures Institute, Level 0 Event Space

17th September 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM BST

Free

At a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping how information is produced, distributed, and consumed, questions of truth, trust, and authority have become increasingly urgent. What happens when AI systems mediate public debate, generate knowledge, and influence what we see, believe, and share? How should universities respond to a world of contested expertise, information abundance, and growing distrust in institutions? Bringing together perspectives on technology, democracy, public discourse, and digital rights, this discussion will explore the role of universities in defending open inquiry, fostering critical thinking, and sustaining the conditions for informed public life.

Speaker Biographies

A person with short purple hair sits confidently on a grey tufted sofa, wearing a black leather jacket, white T-shirt, and black trousers, against a concrete wall background.

Rumman Chowdhury, PhD, is a globally recognized expert in responsible AI, governance, and algorithmic accountability. She is the CEO and founder of Humane Intelligence public benefit corporation, and the co-founder of Humane Intelligence, a nonprofit advancing community-driven AI auditing and evaluation. Appointed as the U.S. Science Envoy for Artificial Intelligence, she engages in global AI governance efforts with a focus on emerging markets. Previously, she led AI ethics teams at Twitter and Accenture, pioneering enterprise-level AI risk mitigation tools. Rumman is also a Responsible AI Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and a trusted advisor to international organisations on AI policy and ethics.

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Jillian C. York is a writer and activist whose work examines the impact of technology on our societal and cultural values. Based in London, she is the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a fellow at the Center for Internet & Human Rights at the European University Viadrina, a visiting professor at the College of Europe Natolin, and the author of Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism (Verso 2021).

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Jeffrey W. Howard is professor of political philosophy and public policy at University College London, where he is director of the Digital Speech Lab. He is co-editor of the journal Political Philosophy.

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Professor Shannon Vallor FRSE serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures at Edinburgh Futures Institute, and holds the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence in the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy. Professor Vallor joined the Futures Institute in 2020 following a career in the United States as a leader in the ethics of emerging technologies, including a post as a visiting AI Ethicist at Google from 2018-2020. She is the author of The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking (Oxford University Press, 2024) and Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press, 2016). She serves as advisor to government and industry bodies on responsible AI and data ethics. She is also Principal Investigator and Co-Director (with Professor Ewa Luger) of the UKRI research programme BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.