Meet the Women Shaping Responsible AI - How Branka Panić is Reimagining AI for Global Security

Branka Panić, founder of AI for Peace, brings more than a decade of peacebuilding and humanitarian experience to one of the most complex intersections of our time: AI and global conflict. In a world facing escalating conflicts, fast-evolving technologies, and increased AI misuse, Branka’s work is guided by the principle of “AI for people, peace, and planet.” AI for Peace works to build and connect a community of peacebuilders and technologists to ensure AI is used to prevent conflict and strengthen global peace.

As the 2024/25 She Shapes AI Global Award winner for AI & Peace, her work highlights an often-overlooked dimension of responsible AI and receiving this award signaled something she had long been working toward, the inclusion of peace as a central pillar in responsible AI. 

In conversations around responsible AI, even those focused on ethics or “AI for good”, we often hear about people and the planet, but “peace is often sidelined in these conversations”, she shared. However, this award became a turning point. It allowed an entire community of AI peacebuilders that they matter, their work matters and that peace belongs in this global conversation.

Rethinking Responsible AI in a Year of Rapid Change

The past year has marked a period of significant technological transition with few fields that have evolved as quickly, and as profoundly, as artificial intelligence. Branka described how AI has moved from machine learning to natural language processing, then into the generative AI wave, and most recently toward agentic AI. She noted that over the previous year, “people suddenly started talking about AI agents and how AI agents will change the impacts of artificial intelligence.”

However, this shift has brought new concerns, particularly around misinformation, disinformation, and the integrity of democratic processes during a year when “more than a half of the population of the world went through elections.” AI agents raised critical questions about how these systems might influence voting, public opinion, and civic trust, all of which are essential for peace.

Branka and her team at AI for Peace have been exploring how agentic AI could support peacebuilding in practical and constructive ways. Much of their recent work has centered on what she describes as “building agentic peace instead of agentic war,” a shift she believes is essential if AI is to contribute meaningfully to global stability.

The Path to Building 

Branka’s path started out in the peacebuilding and humanitarian sectors but she was drawn into the technology space after recognising and connecting with the growing overlap between conflict dynamics and emerging digital tools. Whilst working with the World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict and Violence Unit, where she helped develop a model predicting famine in conflict zones. She explained how famine is seen as a problem that many thought no longer existed, yet it has reappeared as a manmade and sometimes weaponized crisis. The project raised profound ethical and technical questions highlighting the absence of organisations that are focused specifically on the interface between AI and peace.

Seeing this gap, Branka founded AI for Peace, with a goal to create a community of practice that brings peacebuilders and AI experts together. The organisation works to strengthen peacebuilder’s understanding of AI, while also helping technologists to better understand the realities and complexities of conflict.

AI for Peace focuses on a range of issues, including:

• Addressing hate speech online 

• Conflict forecasting and early-warning systems

• Understanding the links between climate change and conflict

• Supporting human rights defenders and journalists in using AI tools to protect rights and increase safety

The organisation’s mission reflects Branka’s belief that these challenges cannot be solved in isolation. As she explained, peacebuilders working in physical spaces now face online harms at a scale and speed that require new digital capacities.

Toward a New Narrative for AI

For Branka, the future of responsible AI must center on community, collaboration, and a shift in narrative. Rather than focusing solely on threats or militarised applications, she advocates for a vision that highlights opportunity, human agency, and the potential of technology to build more peaceful societies. Being recognised by the She Shapes AI Global Awards for AI + Peace, allowed her organisation to connect with many new individuals and groups who share an aim to use AI for good, reinforcing her belief that addressing the challenges posed by AI requires collective action.

She pointed to the AI and climate community as a powerful example, particularly the activism and collaboration visible around COP and related global discussions. She admires how climate-focused technologists are bringing awareness to environmental risks and using AI to protect ecosystems. For her, this is the type of community

Branka Panić is a winner of the 2024/25 She Shapes AI Global Awards for AI & Peace. Discover how AI for Peace is building a global community working to harness AI for conflict prevention and sustainable peace at aiforpeace.org.