REIMAGINING INTELLIGENCE
FOR A JUST WORLD:
a dialogue with Kumi Naidoo
Date: 23 October 2025
Time: 14:30–16:00 CET
At a time of climate emergency and deep inequality, the rise of artificial intelligence forces us to confront urgent questions. The real issue is not only what AI can do but what kind of intelligence humanity most needs to survive and thrive.
In this special conversation with leading global voice in climate justice and activism Kumi Naidoo, we will reflect on whether artificial intelligence will deepen exploitation, surveillance, and environmental destruction — or whether it can be reimagined as a force for justice, dignity, and planetary survival. A pressing concern, especially for younger generations, is the climate cost of AI: will it accelerate environmental harm, or can it be harnessed to build a renewable and regenerative vision of intelligence?
Drawing on his decades of leadership in global movements for climate justice and human rights, Kumi will explore not only this urgent question but also how civil society can shape a just and climate-friendly pathway for AI. How can NGOs and social movements ensure that artificial intelligence supports energy justice, protects human dignity, and creates futures of healing rather than harm?
The discussion will be guided by Barbara Weber, AI4NGO Board Member and seasoned NGO leader with over 30 years of experience, who brings a strong track record in strategy, activism, and transformative leadership to advance meaningful change at both international and national levels.
This dialogue is for civil society organisations and changemakers who want to engage critically and creatively with AI—not on its technicalities, but on the deeper question: what kind of intelligence will guide humanity forward?
About Kumi Naidoo
Kumi Naidoo is a South African human rights and environmental justice activist, who is currently the President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. He is the former Secretary-General of Amnesty International (2018-2020) and also the first person from the Global South to lead Greenpeace International (2009-2015). He is an advisor for the Community Arts Network. He serves as a global ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity. His family has started the Riky Rick Foundation for the Promotion of Artivism to build on the positive legacies left by popular South African rapper Rikhado “Riky Rick” Makhado through his music and life’s work. Through this Foundation, he co-founded the Global Energising Artivism Initiative. Kumi is also the author of award-winning Letters To My Mother: The Makings of a Troublemaker and the host of the podcast Power, People and Planet.
