Maria Luciana Axente Keynote Speaker

Award winning AI ethics and public policy global expert.
Chair of the Data and AI Leadership Committee at Tech UK.
Advisor to the UK & Romanian Governments on emerging and disrupting technologies.

Maria Luciana Axente's Biography

Maria Luciana Axente is an award winning AI ethics and public policy global expert with a demonstrable 20 years track record of setting up and leading a range of ventures, grounded in technology. Driven by high professional standards, she has built a reputation as an advocate and influencer in the field of responsible AI, advising clients from across industries and sectors on operationalisation of ethical AI & data.

Maria is an advisor and regular contributor to public policy initiatives to the UK and Romanian government, UNICEF, World Economic Forum and Global Partnership on AI. She served as an advisory board member for the All Party Parliamentary Group on AI (APPG AI) in the UK Parliament until 2023, as well as NATO Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies and SKEMA Business School AI Institute. She was also elected as Chair of the Data and AI Leadership Committee at Tech UK, the leading technology trade association in the UK, serving until 2025.

She is the Founder and CEO of Responsible Intelligence, a strategic AI advisory that helps organisations put responsible AI into practice.

Maria holds the position of Senior Research Associate at the Intellectual Forum, Jesus College at the University of Cambridge.

Her work has been recognised with various awards including ComputerWeekly Most Influential Women in Technology, TechWomen100, 100 Brilliant women in AI Ethics and CogX Outstanding Achievements in Ethical AI.

The journey towards responsible AI:

Maria explains why responsible AI is the only way to think about AI and what is required to build a better future with AI for the people and planet. She explores best practices in operationalising AI ethics for one organisation.

Inclusive AI:

Maria explores diversity and inclusion in AI, how it is defined and what companies could do to promote greater participation in design and use of intelligent systems. She also explores the challenges in achieving greater inclusion, and how a holistic integrated approach can overcome those barriers.

Ethics of the metaverse:

Maria debates how the ethics of data, AI, social media and gaming can help build a soling foundation for a responsible metaverse that sees benefits and risks being balanced and managed.

From rigid compliance driven to agile AI powered organisation:

Maria articulates how current and future regulatory and public policy trends and development can act as a catalyst for a wider organisational transformation that sees compliance, legal, business and technology creating holistic AI governance operating models.

Future trends in AI and digital ethics:

Maria reflects on the current state of digital and AI ethics, and the future trends that are set to shape how values are embedded in technology, with profound implications for public trust in technology and business success.

She brings two decades of responsible AI and public policy leadership, helping organisations operationalise ethical AI and data governance in ways that are credible, measurable and deployment-ready.
She advises governments and major global institutions including UNICEF, the World Economic Forum and the Global Partnership on AI, giving leaders a clear view of how regulation, standards and public expectations are evolving.
She has shaped board-level and industry-wide thinking through roles spanning UK Parliament’s APPG on AI, NATO’s advisory work on emerging technologies and techUK leadership, translating complex policy into practical executive decisions.
She connects rigorous research with real-world implementation as a Senior Research Associate at Cambridge and Founder and CEO of Responsible Intelligence, equipping audiences to build trust, manage risk and accelerate adoption responsibly.
She is widely recognised for influence in AI ethics, bringing authoritative insight that helps leaders move beyond principles to the concrete governance, culture and controls that make AI safe and scalable.