The United Nations’ leading platform on Artificial Intelligence

Doreen Bogdan-Martin took office as Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023. Ms Bogdan-Martin was elected as ITU’s first-ever female Secretary-General by Member States at the Union’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania.

Ms Bogdan-Martin was previously the Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. She took office on 1 January 2019, becoming the first woman in ITU history to hold one of the organization’s top elected management positions.

Ms Bogdan-Martin is a strategic leader with more than 30 years’ high-level experience in international and inter-governmental relations and a long history of success advising governments around the world on policy and regulatory issues.

From 2008-2018, she led ITU’s Strategic Planning & Membership Department. She was instrumental in establishing the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, on which she has served as Executive Director for more than a decade, and was an architect of the annual Global Symposium for Regulators, the pre-eminent global event for digital policymakers, as well as director of ITU’s first global youth summit, #BYND. She pioneered and oversees ITU’s ongoing contribution to the EQUALS Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, and is leading ITU’s collaboration with UNICEF on the Giga project to connect all the world’s schools.

Ms Bogdan-Martin is a frequent speaker at top-level international policy events and has spearheaded ITU’s new Youth Strategy to more actively engage with the young people who are driving the next wave of digital transformation.

During her tenure as Director of BDT, she has led the implementation of a Results-Based Management system, improved internal accountability frameworks, and initiated a comprehensive review of reporting mechanisms across BDT’s global network of field and area offices, with a view to creating a more dynamic, responsive and fit-for-purpose organization.

Ms Bogdan-Martin holds a Master’s degree in International Communications Policy from American University in Washington, DC, post-graduate certification in Strategies for Leadership from the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is certified in Accountability and Ethics by the United Nations Leaders Programme.

President Alar Karis was born on 26 March 1958 in Tartu.

President Karis graduated from the Estonian Agricultural Academy (now the Estonian University of Life Sciences) in 1981. He earned a Master of Science degree in parasitology in 1987, with his later research focussing on molecular genetics and developmental biology.

President Karis worked at the Estonian Research Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science and later at the Estonian Biocentre of the Academy of Sciences. He has also worked at universities in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and joined the University of Tartu as a professor in 1999. His research has been among the most widely cited internationally of any Estonian scientist of his generation.

In 1999 President Karis founded the University of Tartu-spawned Visgenyx with Professor Eero Vasar, serving as a member of the management board until 2005. The company was involved in the development of transgene organisms for European biotech companies and universities.

President Karis has served as the rector of both the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the University of Tartu. He has led the work of Universities Estonia (the national council of university rectors) a number of times.

President Karis has served as the Auditor-General of the Republic of Estonia and as the head of the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (EUROSAI WGEA).

President Karis was also the director of the Estonian National Museum.

President Karis has previously been a member of the Academic Council and Academic Advisory Board of the President of the Republic and of the Research and Development Council; a member of the supervisory boards of the Estonian Fund for Nature, the European University Association, the Entrepreneurship & Living Environment Development Division of Enterprise Estonia, the International Council of Archives, the International Council of Museums and the museums of the University of Tartu and the Estonian Literary Museum; and the chairman of the supervisory boards of the Estonian Development Fund and the Estonian University of Life Sciences. He has also been a member of the World Cultural Council since 2011.

Prior to becoming the head of state, President Karis served as the honorary consul to the Republic of Chile in Estonia for 10 years. He is a member of the Estonian Students Society and the Tartu Rotary Club.

President Karis is married to Sirje Karis. They have three children.

As a creative artist, tech entrepreneur, the Founder & CEO of FYI.AI, a Goodwill Ambassador, AI Skills Coalition for the United Nations International Telecommunications Union, and Professor of Practice in the GAME School at Arizona State University, will.i.am has been recognized by a CLIO Award, an Emmy Award, nine Grammy Awards, the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award, a TIME 100 Impact Award, the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award, and an Honorary Fellowship by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET – UK).
He is simultaneously a creative innovation advisor, futurist, multi-platinum Grammy-winning music artist, producer, entertainer and a tech entrepreneur as part of his cross-disciplinary career.  He invests in and develops businesses in a range of sectors including the FYI Web 3.0 creativity & productivity tool, automotive, consumer-tech, fashion, food & beverage, software (AI, Natural Language Understanding, Voice Computing) and telecom.
His early work as Futurist and market opportunity spotter was with Beats Electronics. As a founding equity stakeholder in the company, will.i.am was instrumental in helping to transform Beats By Dre™ into a global consumer electronics brand.  Beats Electronics was purchased by Apple in 2014 for US$3 billion.
will.i.am teams with the world’s leading companies helping them to embrace future technologies, what’s next in cultural trends and to develop new business initiatives.  A sampling of multinational organizations he has collaborated with include Apple, Arizona State University, Coca-Cola, Deutsche Telekom, Formula 1, Honeywell, Intel, LG, Marvel Comics, Mercedes-AMG, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Pepsi, Salesforce, SiriusXM and UPROXX Studios.
In philanthropy will.i.am established his i.am Angel Foundation in 2009 to transform lives through education, inspiration and opportunity incorporating STEAM (science, tech, engineering, arts and mathematics) education resources and robotics clubs in schools.  i.am Angel Foundation programs also include after-school tutoring and scholarship aid for university-bound students in underserved areas. With a 99% graduation rate, participating students are often the first in their families to attend a four-year college or university.

Ray Kurzweil is a world-class inventor, thinker, and futurist with a 36-year track record of accurate predictions. A leader in artificial intelligence for 63 years, he was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition software.

Ray has won a Grammy, the National Medal of Technology, a place in the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and 21 honorary Doctorates. His latest book, The Singularity Is Nearer, debuted at #4 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

He served as a Director of Engineering and later Principal Researcher and AI Visionary at Google for 13 years where he developed an AI model that conversed in natural language with 100,000 books, a landmark precursor to today’s large language models.

Björn Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, producer, entrepreneur and creators’ rights advocate. Best known as co-founder and member of ABBA, he has helped shape global music and entertainment for more than five decades. Together with his longtime collaborator Benny Andersson, he co-wrote some of the most successful songs in popular music history, contributing to ABBA’s worldwide success of more than 400 million records sold.

Alongside his creative career, Björn has become a leading voice at the intersection of creativity, technology and intellectual property. He has long championed fair remuneration and transparency for creators in the digital economy, advocating for frameworks that ensure innovation benefits both audiences and the people who create cultural works.

Björn serves as President of CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, representing more than five million creators worldwide through its global network of authors’ societies. In this role, he works with creators, industry leaders and policymakers to promote strong copyright protections, fair remuneration and sustainable creative ecosystems in an increasingly digital and AI-driven world.
Björn is co-founder of the Music Rights Awareness Foundation, an initiative dedicated to helping creators around the world better understand and manage their rights in an increasingly digital marketplace. He has been an influential contributor to international discussions on copyright, data, artificial intelligence and the future of creative industries.

As co-founder of Pophouse Entertainment, Björn has pioneered new approaches to entertainment that combine creativity, technology and intellectual property. Pophouse is the company behind ABBA Voyage, the groundbreaking concert experience that uses advanced digital technologies to create immersive live performances, attracting millions of visitors and demonstrating new possibilities for the future of entertainment.

Björn is also actively engaged in discussions on how artificial intelligence can support creativity while safeguarding human authorship, cultural diversity and creators’ rights. Through his work with international organisations, policymakers and industry leaders, he advocates for a human-centred approach to AI that promotes innovation while ensuring that creators remain recognised, respected and fairly compensated.

Puyr Tembé is an Indigenous leader of the Tembé people from the Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon. Widely recognized for her advocacy of Indigenous rights, the protection of ancestral territories, and the preservation of traditional knowledge, she has become one of the most respected and influential Indigenous voices in Brazil. Her leadership journey first gained prominence through her work with the Federation of Indigenous Peoples of the State of Pará (FEPIPA), where she served as Coordinator, strengthening the political representation of Indigenous peoples across Pará and expanding their participation in decision-making spaces. She is also a co-founder of the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry (ANMIGA), one of Brazil’s leading Indigenous organizations, created to advance the leadership of Indigenous women in defending their rights, territories, and ways of life.
Puyr made history when she became the first Secretary of State for Indigenous Peoples of Pará, leading the first state-level government department in Brazil created exclusively to serve Indigenous peoples. Her tenure marked a significant milestone in Indigenous representation within government, strengthening Indigenous participation in public policy development and expanding the presence of Indigenous voices in discussions on climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development.
She gained international recognition as one of the protagonists of the documentary Somos Guardiões, which follows indigenous leaders and Amazonian communities as they work to protect the rainforest from growing threats to their territories. The film brought her story and the realities faced by Indigenous peoples in the Amazon to audiences around the world, highlighting the essential role Indigenous communities play in safeguarding tropical forests. A frequent participant in international conferences, diplomatic dialogues, and global forums on climate action and human rights, Puyr Tembé advocates for the recognition of Indigenous peoples as key leaders in protecting the Amazon and addressing the climate crisis. Her career combines grassroots leadership, political advocacy, international engagement, and an unwavering commitment to future generations, establishing her as one of the most prominent Indigenous leaders of the contemporary Amazon.

John Legend is an EGOT-winning, critically acclaimed, multi-platinum singer, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur, widely recognized as one of the most influential contemporary R&B artists, who has garnered 13 GRAMMY Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Emmy Awards, among others. Legend is one of only twenty-two people in the prestigious EGOT club. Legend has released ten celebrated albums over the course of his career, including Get Lifted (2004), Once Again (2006), Evolver (2008), Wake Up! (with The Roots, 2010), Love in the Future (2013), Darkness and Light (2016), A Legendary Christmas (2018), Bigger Love (2020), LEGEND (2022), LEGEND (Solo Piano Version) (2023) and most recently, My Favorite Dream (2024). He continues to receive industry recognition, including a 2025 GRAMMY Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” with Jacob Collier and Tori Kelly, and a 2026 GRAMMY nomination for Best Gospel Performance/Song for “Church.” In 2024, Legend celebrated the 20th anniversary of his GRAMMY-winning debut album Get Lifted with a deluxe reissue featuring new remixes and collaborations with artists such as Tems, Black Thought, Simi, Killer Mike, and Lil Wayne. He also launched the “Get Lifted 20th Anniversary World Tour,” bringing the landmark album to audiences across North America and Europe. Legend joined THE VOICE as a coach for Season 16 (2019) and recently completed Season 29 (2026), his 11th season on the show. Beyond music, Legend co-founded Get Lifted Film Co., a production company that has developed projects across multiple forms of media. Following their success in film, TV and theater, Get Lifted partnered with Zando to form Get Lifted Books, building upon Get Lifted Film Co.’s mission of spotlighting stories from dynamic creatives. Get Lifted Film Co. are among the producers of Imitation of Life and this show represents Legend’s first time composing a full musical. Expanding his entrepreneurial footprint, Legend launched his self-care brand, Loved01, in 2023, to bring consumers luxurious skincare formulas at affordable prices, and in 2024, he and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, introduced Kismet, a dog lifestyle brand offering premium food and accessories for modern dog families.

Dr. Lan Xue is a Distinguished Professor and Dean at Schwarzman College Tsinghua University. His teaching and research interests include global governance, crisis management, and science, technology and innovation policy. From 2000 to 2018, he served as Associate Dean, Executive Associate Dean and Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University. He also holds adjunct positions at Carnegie Mellon University and the Brookings Institution. Dr. Xue advises the State Council, chairs China’s National Expert Committee on Next Generation AI governance, and is a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Association of Science and Technology. Internationally, he serves on the UN Sustainable Development Solution Network board, UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration, and UN Internet Governance Forum Leadership Panel.Dr. Xue is a recipient of Distinguished Young Scholar Award from National Natural Science Foundation of China, Cheung Kong Chair Distinguished Professor of the Ministry of Education, the Fudan Distinguished Contribution Award for Management Science, the Distinguished Contribution Award from Chinese Association for Science of Science and S&T Policy, and the Second National Award for Excellence in Innovation in China. He holds a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

Yoshua Bengio is Full Professor of Computer Science at Université de Montreal, Co-President and Scientific Director of LawZero, as well as the Founder and Scientific Advisor of Mila. He also holds a Canada CIFAR AI Chair. Considered one of the world’s leaders in Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning, he is the recipient of the 2018 A.M. Turing Award, considered to be the “Nobel Prize of computing.” He is the most cited computer scientist worldwide, and the most cited living scientist across all fields (by total citations).

Professor Bengio is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of London and Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, a Knight of the Legion of Honour of France, the Co-Chair of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, and Chair of the International AI Safety Report.

Joëlle Barral is a Senior Director of Research & Engineering at Google DeepMind (GDM). Based in Paris, she has a diverse portfolio of foundational research efforts, which includes theoretical and empirical aspects of frontier models as well as early-stage research in artificial intelligence and the life sciences. She is also in charge of GDM’s efforts in healthcare. She leads a team of researchers and engineers spread across Europe and North America. Joëlle Barral was previously software lead at Verily, Google’s sister life sciences company, and the head of Verily Surgical. She joined Verily in 2014 and was part of the team who started Verb Surgical, Verily’s joint venture with Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon, pioneering a vision for the future of robotic surgery that leverages machine learning and digital tools to enhance the surgeon’s judgment, improve decision making, and positively impact clinical outcomes. Before joining Verily, she was with HeartVista, a spin-off from Stanford University, where she developed an MR software package for the comprehensive evaluation of ischemic and valvular heart diseases. Joëlle Barral has authored numerous patents on topics ranging from maternal health, digital pathology, surgical robotics, and medical imaging. She holds a B.S. degree in Math and Physics from Ecole Polytechnique, France, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering, in the field of high-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging, from Stanford University, where she was also a Simon Stertzer Biodesign Innovation Fellow. She is the 2019 recipient of the Pierre Faurre Prize.