The third annual Irish Roundtable in the Valley, which brings together tech leaders across Ireland with their Irish American counterparts, scheduled for 30 April, will this year be addressed by Irish American Congressman Kevin Mullin.
Joining Congressman Mullin, a Democratic standard-bearer whose district stretches from the south of San Francisco almost to Palo Alto, to open the Stanford gathering will be Consul General of Ireland Micheál Smith who is a graduate of Queen's University Belfast.
Taking 'Making Responsible AI Work: Scaling for Success' as its theme, the Irish Roundtable is the premier transatlantic tech event in the Bay Area of California and is supported by Invest Northern Ireland and international companies Options Technology and Unosquare as well as by New Deal Advisers of San Francisco.
The inaugural #IrishRoundtable in the Valley: The Economic Impact of AI on the World of Work was a resounding success. Congratulations to @aislingevents, all speakers & sponsors. Thought-provoking discussions about the opportunities presented by #AI, risks and ethical challenges. pic.twitter.com/jdY1AX44Aj
— Andrea Haughian (@Andrea_Haughian) May 10, 2024
Serial entrepreneur Séamus McAteer is heading a formidable line-up of Roundtable Honorary Chairs supporting the conference. “It’s always a treat to welcome the delegation travelling from Ireland and to share with them the latest trends and developments in the world of tech and AI here in the Bay Area," he said.
With a strong focus on Belfast, the travelling delegation from Ireland will have an opportunity to address the half-day conference and liaise with Silicon Valley partners.
Special guests include Gubernatorial candidate Betty Yee and Jarell Cook, Senior Manager State and Local Government Affairs, Workday, California.
The Irish Roundtable will this year align with a conference on AI and minority languages being hosted by Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Irish economic agency for the Gaeltacht region, in Ireland House in San Francisco on 29 April.
"If lesser-used languages such as Irish are not fully embedded in an AI-driven world, they risk irrelevance in the future workplace, with a consequent diminishing of their societal significance," explained Rónán Mac Con Iomaire of Údarás na Gaeltachta. "As the authority responsible for the economic, community and linguistic development of Ireland's Irish-speaking regions, Údarás na Gaeltachta recognises its role not only in ensuring the future vitality of Irish but in supporting the wider conversation around AI and all low-resource languages. Accordingly, we are working with the Irish Consulate General in San Francisco and with the European Union to organise a conference on AI and minority languages, with speakers from the leading AI companies, academia and government."
The learnings from the San Francisco event will inform a two-day conference on AI and minority languages in Galway next November, to be held as part of Ireland's EU Presidency.
Connla McCann, Roundtable co-founder says the annual get-together has helped cement relations between AI trailblazers in the Bay Area and cutting-edge tech companies and colleges in the north of Ireland. "We're particular pleased to be joined by the Atlantic Technological University and by the groundbreaking Studio Ulster initiative of Ulster University and have no doubt that their proposition will be of interest to the Irish American tech community on the west coast."
Tickets are now on sale for the Stanford Faculty Club event and the full program is available online.
