Who Determines What Safe Is? Gender, Diversity and Power in the Future of AI
7 July 2026 · 11:00 am–11:25 am · Cullen
AI safety is often framed as a technical challenge, but every approach to AI safety begins with human decisions: what counts as harm, whose harms matter, and who gets to answer those questions? This panel will explore how gender, diversity and lived experience shape the way AI risks are identified, prioritised and governed. Bringing together expertise from software engineering, public policy and gender equality, the discussion will examine how AI can reproduce existing inequalities, why diverse perspectives strengthen AI safety, and what more inclusive governance could mean for the future of trustworthy AI.
Speakers
Johanna Weaver
Executive Director and Co-Founder, Tech Policy Design Institute
Johanna Weaver is Co-Founder and Executive Director of TPDi. She is a reformed commercial litigator, a recovering diplomat, and an escaped professor. Johanna concluded her term as Australia’s independent expert and chief cyber negotiator at the United Nations in 2021. In 2022, she was appointed Professor in the Practice of Cyber and Tech Policy at ANU. She has served to numerous boards, including the ICRC Global Advisory Board on Protecting Civilians from Digital Threats, the Minister for Government Services’ Independent Advisory Board, and the Data Standards Advisory Committee.
Gemma Killen
Executive Director, Working with Women Alliance
Rashina Hoda
Professor of Software Engineering, Director of HumanAISE Lab, Associate Dean Equity Diversity and Inclusion, Monash University
Rashina's research focuses on the human and socio-technical aspects of Software Engineering at the intersections of AI and Digital Health. She is currently focusing on Human-AI collaboration. She is a book author, TEDx and SXSW speaker, 2025 Top Australian Researcher in Software Systems, 2024 Women of Colour in STEM Guiding Star Mentorship Award recipient, 2021-22 Superstar of STEM, and a champion of underrepresented girls and women in STEM.
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