Dr Eleanor Drage: The Fight for a Better AI Future

Are we asking the wrong questions about artificial intelligence?

While headlines swing wildly between utopia and apocalypse, AI ethicist Dr Eleanor Drage argues that the real challenge is not whether AI will save us or destroy us, but who gets to shape its future.

In What If We Got AI Right?, Drage explores the culture and power structures driving the AI race, from Big Tech and biased algorithms to questions of justice, democracy and human values.

A researcher at the University of Cambridge and one of the UK’s leading voices on AI ethics, she offers a refreshingly hopeful alternative to the doom-laden narratives that dominate public debate.

Timely, provocative and essential, this event explores who benefits, who is excluded and what is at stake as AI reshapes our world.

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Events last one hour unless otherwise stated, followed by a book signing in The Clearing. Our official bookseller is Waterstones.

Folkestone Book Festival is our annual celebration of stories, ideas and conversation by the sea. Curated by novelist Sophie Haydock (The Flames, Madame Matisse), this year’s festival brings together more than 60 events across two weeks, welcoming world-class writers, thinkers and storytellers to Folkestone.

Discover another event, browse the bookshop, explore Folkestone’s vibrant arts scene, independent cafés, bars and galleries, and share the experience with a friend. The best festivals are as much about the conversations between events as those on stage.

The Festival is part of Folkestone is a Library, our ambitious town-wide celebration of reading, writing and storytelling, helping make Folkestone one of the UK’s most exciting literary destinations.

We believe great conversations should be for everyone, which is why every event includes a £5 Cost of Living Ticket, available with no questions asked.

Please help us spread the word. Together, we’re building a thriving community of readers, writers and curious minds.

Folkestone Book Festival is proudly supported by Eurotunnel, Canterbury Christ Church University, Holiday Extras, and the Friends of Folkestone Book Festival. Creative Folkestone is supported by Arts Council England, Folkestone & Hythe District Council and Saga. Founding Funder The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust.