Rhodes Forum on Technology & Society 2025

What a week in the UK! From celebrating the launch of the Vitality AI partnership with Google in London to returning to my alma mater and Rhodes House for the 2025 Rhodes Forum on Technology and Society.

Seeing my team’s work come alive at the Vitality event was incredibly rewarding. It was a reminder of what’s possible when technology and purpose meet and when innovation begins to make prevention more personalised and wellbeing more achievable for all.

This year’s Forum theme, Abundance, has stayed with me. As data scientists and technologists, we are often trained to optimise for finite resources. This theme challenges that mindset by inviting us to reimagine how next-gen technologies such as Gen and Agentic AI can be harnessed to create abundance for patients, healthcare systems, and communities.

In healthcare, Abundance invites us to reimagine wellness, prevention, and care not as finite commodities but as renewable, shared resources. Next gen technologies can help make this possible by expanding capacity, deepening insight, and enabling more human connection where it matters most.

Abundance is not about having more, but about creating more possibility through collective action, shared imagination, and the courage to design a future where everyone can thrive.

These two experiences leave me with a powerful take-away that innovation with purpose and the belief that technology, when guided by humanity, can help us all live more abundant lives.

Many thanks to the organizers of this year's Rhodes Trust Technology Forum. The event opened terrific discussions about human-centred technological futures from a range of different perspectives. For me, it also underscored the centrality of museums as inclusive spaces for imagining and experimenting with technology. Thanks to Kati Price, Brendan McGetrick and Bruce Niyonkuru for sharing their ideas and curatorial experiences at the Museums of Tomorrow panel.

In my day-to-day work, I'm fortunate to witness incredible technology development and groundbreaking ventures firsthand. However, it was especially impactful to join the annual Rhodes Trust Forum on Technology & Society 2025 this weekend. This event truly brings together a diverse range of perspectives—from academic research to the public and private sectors—and it was an honor to be in a room with so many brilliant minds dedicated to exploring the intersection of innovation and humanity.

It was a privilege to serve as a judge alongside Helen Zhang and Ming T. for the Kevin Xu Innovation Challenge. Thanks to Abhilash Mishra, founder of Equitech Futures, we heard from six inspiring finalists who are harnessing AI for social good, and a huge congratulations goes to the impressive winners, Open Door!

I left with a notebook full of ideas, but here are a few key learnings that resonated with me:
💡 Ethical AI is contextual: Helen Zhang offered a powerful reminder that what is considered 'ethical' in AI can differ greatly across cultures, prompting the crucial question: who gets to decide?
💡 Defining our terms: Lian Ryan-Hume (Najami) Ryan-He from TikTok shared their constant process of examining what "fairness" and "transparency" mean within their local and original platform context.
💡 AI ethic for business growth: It was fascinating to hear from Atindriyo Sanyal, co-founder and CTO of Galileo, on how accurately monitored AI is already proving to be a thriving business case.
💡 Storytelling bridges: A great insight from Madeleine de Cock Buning from Netflix, who shared how they build bridges between cultures through the universal power of media and storytelling.
💡 Technology's role in well-being: Experiencing the Atlantic Institute's immersive XR experience sparked a compelling discussion about the broader role of technology in fostering well-being. Thanks Harpinder Athwal Collacott, for pulling me in to this one!

Beyond the insightful discussions, the magical evening reception at the museum and the 'Harry Potter style' 🪄 dinner were fantastic highlights, creating a wonderful atmosphere for connection. Running into one of our very own Google for Startups #Accelerator alumni, Jeffrey Fasegha from Deducta, was an amazing surprise!

🙏 A huge thank you to Sorina Campean and Georgie Thurston for inviting me and introducing me to this fantastic annual tradition. I'm leaving with a full mind and a renewed sense of passion for the impactful work we do.

#Technology #SocialImpact #Innovation #AIForGood #Leadership #Networking

Wrapping up the Rhodes Trust Technology & Society Forum, I’ve been reflecting on a thought I shared while introducing one of our Kevin Xu Innovation Challenge finalist teams. I mentioned that while curiosity is a universal human trait, each of us harnesses it in our own way.

One of my favorite ways to feed my curiosity is through designing this forum: exploring new ideas, shaping the panels, and handpicking the speakers who can best bring those conversations to life.
This year, a big part of the inspiration came from Abhilash Mishra, Founder of Equitech Futures (our main partner for the forum) who introduced me to Ezra Klein’s book on abundance earlier this spring. From that spark, we built out everything.

It’s a collaborative effort, of course. Our alumni advisory board gives invaluable guidance, and my amazing team is the one who actually turns that vision into reality. But at the heart of it, this forum is my favourite way of exploring the world’s big questions side by side with the incredible community we gather in Oxford each year. So thank you to everyone involved for helping bring it to life.

I’m always curious about what ideas really stuck with others, so if you were part of this year’s forum, feel free to share a takeaway or thought in the comments.

Lindsay Herbert Jeremy Heimans Firas Darwish Paul Cadario Madeleine de Cock Buning Brian Wyborn Alberto Cottica Kathryn Brown Bruce Niyonkuru Kati Price Brendan McGetrick Tina Christmann Ella Duus John Dupree Farwiza Farhan Patience Mususa Noa Havazelet Helen Zhang Ming T. Anand Gandhi Anthony House Dr Lollie Mancey Lian Ryan-Hume (Najami) Atindriyo Sanyal Rob Saldin Michael Schmidt

Travelling home from an inspirational Rhodes Forum on Tech and Society. The event invited everyone to reimagine ‘abundance’ and think critically, challenge prevailing assumptions, and shape our own visions of the future.

It was amazing to have a day dedicated to doing just that and to be stimulated by excellent speakers and delegates.

Particularly, I enjoyed conversations around:
- social thickness
- polycentric wisdom
- the conflicted and strange position of the key AI leaders
- how to monitor and measure natural ecosystems in ways that work within financial calendars
- whether ‘significant digital others’ or social media will prevail in the attention economy… and so much more…

Thank you to all those who made the trip to Oxford hugely worthwhile, including Paul Cadario Brian Wyborn Noa Havazelet Jeremy Heimans Thomas Murray Alberto Cottica Georgie Thurston Sorina Campean Michael Schmidt

Jo Reid Calvium Marisa Harlington Pablo Isidoro Carrillo Alvarez

"𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?"

Today, I was invited to attend the 𝐑𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 & 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 virtually, by the best community, Equitech Futures and Rhodes Trust! This year's theme is "Abundance", which hooked me right away.

Kicked off the day with the outstanding opening remark by Jeremy Heimans and Firas Darwish. I do agree that AI has been integrated into our lives, having it from 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧-𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 embedded in devices that are actively listening or sensing, which presses the need to wisely leverage such technologies without making them degrade our human abilities and softskills.
The future is promising to have more "𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐬" agents; however, I strongly support that our human thinking should not be replaced in the pipeline.
The 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 LLMs and AI decisions, and the 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥 why that decision exactly and reasoning abilities are crucial to be honest.

Jumping to the exceptional panellists: Atindriyo Sanyal, Lian Ryan-Hume (Najami), John Dupree and Helen Xiao He Zhang, and the 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐠𝐞: 𝐓𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐈 and Abhilash Mishra on 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞? 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.

The quality and content of what we're seeing on a daily basis affect the digital trust scale. Accountability, Fairness and Transparency should be promoted for rebuilding this trust.

"AI is a black box, and we have to unbox it to achieve those pillars", as I'm researching in LLMs and reasoning these words by Lian resonates a lot! On the ethical side, harm is global when using technology, yet the way it exposes itself is so local. Cultural aspects matter, and Geographical locations matter from a policy point of view, where we have to be specific. As Safety by Design does not directly reflect a safe user experience, we should investigate this more to reach a concrete vision.

LLMs are built to generate, which is not to say "IDK", but rather hallucinate. Thus, sometimes concepts like "RLHF" ring a bell, but the human supervision of massive data generated in seconds is not practical or feasible.
Our awareness is important: The guilt for being unconscious users sometimes!
If you choose to walk away from a company that breached your data, that's their loss and not yours as a user.

Congrats, Equitech startups Koan and @bureaucrazy for winning the Kevin Xu Innovation Prize! 👏 ♥️

Thanks, Thomas Murray, for staying virtually with us while at there!

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭.

#TechAndSociety2025

Today, I attended the Rhodes Forum on Technology & Society 2025 (Rhodes Trust) from the University of Oxford, and it was truly an amazing experience to listen to inspiring global experts discuss the future of AI, ethics, and innovation.
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 👇
𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲
Rick Trainor, Interim Warden of Rhodes House & CEO of the Rhodes Trust, shared that Rhodes prepares leaders for society, reminding us that Rhodes prepares leaders who must serve humanity and the future.

In Conversation with Speaker Jeremy Heimans, and Moderator, Firas Darwish, explored the new era of AI compared to the old era, discussing how we’ve evolved from offline → online → inline interactions.
It reflected on how AI connects with us intelligently, emotionally, and psychologically, from fake non-human influencers and cognitive funnels to digital significance.

There was an interesting discussion about how some people even form emotional relationships with chatbots

“We must involve humans in technology.”
We should have the right to review AI decisions and understand why such decisions are made.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, Moderator is John Dupree, and Speaker Madeleine de Cock Buning. She shared how Netflix works with local creators to tell authentic stories that build empathy and cultural understanding. “We don’t force people to watch,” she said, “we give them a choice.”
Also featured were Alberto Cottica and Brian Wyborn on unlocking education access and capacity building for communities.

𝗥𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗴𝗲 Moderator is John DuPree, and Speakers Atindriyo Sanyal, Lian Ryan-Hume (Najami), and Helen Zhang
A powerful discussion on trust, bias, and fairness in AI, how to define harmful vs. good content, and how ethics differ across the USA, EU, China, and the Middle East.
It highlighted the importance of transparency and accountability in digital platforms....

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲? Moderator, Dr. Abhilash Mishra and speakers Rob Saldin, Anthony House, and Dr Lollie Mancey
Ella Duus, This session helped me better understand the true meaning of abundance, to solve real problems in any sector, build ethical governance systems, and respect cultural differences while shaping the digital future responsibly.

What an inspiring way to end the day! Loved hearing Lindsay Herbert amazing stories on digital transformation, full of energy and vision.

𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗫𝘂 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲, Congratulations to Labbi Karmacharya from our ADI’23 cohort for winning the challenge, and to Team Koan.

Special thanks to Thomas Murray for his constant support and encouragement. 🙌
Feeling deeply inspired, the Rhodes Forum 2025 reminded me that AI is not just about intelligence, it’s about purpose, empathy, and impact.

Note: Due to character limit, more soon.

#RhodesForum2025

The day is here! The Rhodes Forum on Technology & Society 2025 is about to kick off. We’re looking forward to a day full of keynotes, panels, interactive sessions and the chance to meet with fellow changemakers.

Our #RhodesScholar Ambassadors Buntu Fanteso, Alexandra Wong, Rachel Niesen, Xiaohan (Sharon) Zhang and Zayaan Asimi are ready to welcome delegates to #RhodesHouse. Buntu and Zandy are taking over our Instagram stories today so follow along for a behind the scenes insight!

#TechAndSociety2025