Coming Up in March 2026
Voices of the Future organized by Zara Khanna, Founder of Ethical Coders, brings together secondary and high school students from across Singapore to explore one big question:
How should we shape AI before it shapes us?
Hosted at the ArtScience Museum, this first-of-its-kind national debate on AI blends student-led dialogue with real-world demos, expert panels, and public conversation on technology, trust, and tomorrow.
I spoke about AI for Gender Equality at the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) at United Nations Headquarters in New York. My co-panelists included Ms. Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, and was chaired by United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) President Bob Rae.
My remarks were featured on the UN website:
UN Press Release “Youth voices also featured prominently. Zara Khanna, Youth Ambassador for She Loves Tech, underscored the role of education and digital inclusion in empowering girls, “Firstly, accelerate connectivity. We must distribute more internet hotspots… Secondly, we must distribute more devices… And finally, governments must invest in creating these AI-powered programs that are culture- and language-specific.”
UN Web TV “Further, “there is unequal access to education for women all over the world”, said Zara Khanna, Youth Ambassador for She Loves Tech, citing artificial intelligence (AI)-powered learning programmes as a “key tool to aid us in bridging the divide”. They can approach students on an individual level, offering personalized feedback, which is especially important for those who face cultural and other barriers to gaining an education. She spotlighted Khan Academy — a free AI-powered personalized tutor that offers a range of subjects, from English to math, or Rori, which was piloted in Ghana and is available on all mobile devices, as it operates via WhatsApp. This is especially important, given that mobile penetration is extremely high; while 129 million girls lack access to education, 4.9 billion people worldwide have access to smartphones.
Outlining solutions, she underscored the need to accelerate connectivity by distributing more Internet hotspots. One single hotspot can power a village, and hundreds of girls can gain access to the wealth of knowledge available online. Additionally, more devices, such as smartphones and tablets, shall be distributed, so girls can access this knowledge. She underscored that Governments must invest in creating culture and language-specific AI-powered programmes to cater to the job markets that these girls will be entering. Through early science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) intervention, mentorship programmes and more gender-neutral language, “we can all move together to reach SDG 5 by 2030” and “a more gender-neutral future”.
I spoke at a United Nations conference in South Korea dedicated to “Effective Governance and AI Transformation for the 2030 Agenda.” In the session on “Shaping the Future of AI for and by the Youth,” I gave a speech highlighting the power of youth-driven innovation and ethical leadership in the AI landscape, including empowering youth to take an active role in designing the AI technologies that will define our future.
The ArtScience Museum invited me to lead a workshop titled "Future Voices: AI & Ethics." We discussed some of the latest scenarios for how AI is penetrating social life and the ethical dilemmas people need to confront.
I conducted a workshop for youth on the challenges of AI and led a discussion of the ethical implications of generative AI. The session was held at the new high-tech integrated One Punggol Library.
I moderated a provocative “no-holds-barred” conversation with legendary entrepreneurs Steve Chen (co-founder of YouTube) and Patrick Grove (Catcha Group) at Tatler’s GenT Summit.
I delivered an Ethics & AI workshop for more than 200 girls organized by She Loves Tech, the world’s largest tech accelerator for women with a presence in more than 75 countries. Subsequently I delivered this workshop in several places including the National University of Singapore and online workshops for youth.
My start-up Octa became the newest and youngest member of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), which invited me to talk about the chatbot Octa and how to engage kids in planning sustainable family holidays.
The leading travel media portal Skift held its big annual conference on Sentosa in Singapore and invited me to present on why it’s so important to use tech like my chatbot Octa and include kids in family travel planning. Huge thanks to Skift CEO Rafat Ali for his thumbs-up!
I was invited to present my chatbot Octa at the Robotex conference in Estonia, and also got to speak on a panel with the famous Japanese investor Taizo Son and Kirsi Ekberg about how to educate and inspire hundreds of thousands more kid entrepreneurs. In Tallinn I also met a great mentor Karoli Hindriks and visited the super snowy Christmas market!
