The Chrysler Building was built as a bet on the future.
On 8 October 2026, it hosted a room full of leaders discussing the future we are building with AI and who gets to shape it.
Shaping Responsible AI: Women Driving Change Through Technology, co-hosted with law firm Moses Singer, was She Shapes AI’s first US conference. It brought together leaders from business, law, technology, research and public policy for a day that was less about whether AI matters and more about what we do now that it does.
Setting the tone
Rebecca Goodman-Stephens, CEO of Moses Singer, welcomed guests. Then Eleonore Fournier-Tombs, New York State’s Chief AI Officer, opened the day with a view from inside government, where decisions about AI are being made at scale. Dr Julia Stamm, founder of She Shapes AI, followed with the question that ran through every session: what does responsible AI leadership look like when we go beyond efficiency and productivity, to truly deliver on AI’s promises?
Two keynotes, two core insights
Renée Cummings, AI governance specialist, professor at the University of Virginia and a She Shapes AI awards finalist, took on the problem of systems we can’t see into. In The Invisible Power of Opacity, she looked at how a lack of transparency shifts power, and why accountability has to be designed in rather than bolted on afterwards. And she reminded the audience that “AI increasingly determines life chances: who is seen, believed, protected, rewarded, surveilled and punished.”
Rhiana Spring, founder of Spring ACT and a recent She Shapes AI Global Awards winner, made the discussion on AI’s positive potential tangible in When AI Meets Her – Designing Safety into the Machine. Her work on Sophia, an AI chatbot supporting survivors of domestic violence, showed how technology can meet people at their most vulnerable, and what it takes to get it right. Among others, she highlighted the importance of always asking who is affected by an AI decision and whether they were involved in making that decision.
What actually happens when you implement AI
In the afternoon, the AI in Action panel moved to the practical application of AI within companies. Shay Bolton, Marci Weisler, Alexia Crawford, Nikky Kho, Anna Murray, and Alon Shwartz spoke candidly about putting AI to work across industries looks like concretely: what worked, what didn’t, and what they would do differently.
The panel was followed by three parallel hands-on workshops, looking at how work itself is being redesigned, how to find growth beyond efficiency gains, and what leaders owe their teams when they bring AI in. In between, the conversations over coffee were just as lively as those on stage.
Ending on leadership
The day closed with a fireside conversation between Julia and Caroline De Cock, technology and AI policy strategist. They returned to where the day began: technology doesn’t make choices about how AI is built and used, leaders do.
Introducing the She Shapes AI Membership
The Chrysler Building was also where we launched She Shapes AI Membership, our global network for women shaping AI responsibly across sectors, disciplines and geographies.
AI is moving fast, and making sense of it can feel overwhelming. Our membership offers access to expert knowledge, deep conversations, practical resources, curated insights and a community of peers who are working through the same questions. The aim is simple: to bring together women developing, building and deploying AI, to foster understanding of what is changing, build capabilities, and help act with confidence and responsibility.
For organisations, our membership is a way to invest in your people, giving them ongoing access to expertise, learning and perspectives from well beyond their own sector.
Thank you
Our thanks go to Moses Singer, a founding corporate partner of She Shapes AI, and to every speaker, contributor and participant who made our first US conference happen.
New York was one of many more milestones to come. Through our events, programmes, and Membership, we’ll keep doing what this day was about: turning responsible AI from a concept into tangible decisions leaders can actually make and feel confident about, putting people first.
