LEARN · EMPOWER · FLOURISH

As AI Becomes More CapableSo Must We.

Global AI Academy helps people understand artificial intelligence, build the capacity to use it with purpose, and play an active role in shaping what comes next.

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About Us

Building human capacity for the age of AI.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly expanding what is possible. Its impact reaches far beyond technology, changing how we work, learn, create, lead, build organizations, and interact with one another.

Global AI Academy exists to help people, leaders, institutions, and organizations build the knowledge, judgment, connections, and confidence needed to navigate that future. Our purpose is to maximize the positive outcomes of AI adoption while reducing the risks of dependency, inequality, concentrated power, and loss of human agency.

GlobalPerspective
Cross-DisciplinaryCommunity
Human-CenteredMission
LifelongLearning

Our Approach

Learn. Empower. Flourish.

Learn

Build the knowledge and judgment to understand AI, its capabilities, its limitations, and the changes it is creating.

Empower

Turn understanding into agency with the skills, tools, relationships, and confidence to use AI with purpose and participate in how it is adopted.

Flourish

Apply that capacity to create positive outcomes for people, organizations, communities, and society as AI becomes part of everyday life.

Leadership

The people helping shape the Academy.

Global AI Academy is guided by leaders and advisors whose experience spans technology, finance, government, investment, law, ethics, entrepreneurship, and global affairs. Together, our Board, Trustees, and Advisors help guide the Academy's direction, protect its mission, and connect its work to the world it aims to serve.

Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith

Chairman of the Board

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Christopher Smith is a lifelong financier with senior involvement in IPOs and acquisitions around the world. With a background in advanced mathematics, accountancy, and corporate law, he advises family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and is focused on responsible AI education and adoption.

Christopher Hinn

Christopher Hinn

Board Member

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Christopher Hinn is an international strategist, government advisor, and security executive with more than 50 years of experience across U.S.-Middle East relations, aviation, transportation, and counterterrorism. Appointed by President George W. Bush to the Senior Executive Service, he served in senior international and Middle East advisory roles at TSA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Giovanni Tomaselli

Giovanni Tomaselli

Board Member

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Giovanni Tomaselli brings more than 30 years of technology leadership in Asia and a decade in the United States. His career leading major development teams and his entrepreneurship experience, including being featured in a Harvard Business School case study, inform his focus on keeping humanity at the core of AI.

William McMurry

William McMurry

Board Member

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William “Bill” McMurry, Co-Founder and CEO of W1 Global, is a former FBI leader specializing in international corruption, transnational crime, and financial investigations. He led landmark cases including 1MDB and Odebrecht and previously served as a U.S. Air Force officer and AFOSI Special Agent.

Yasser Ibrahim

Yasser Ibrahim

Board Member

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Yasser Ibrahim is a globally experienced banking executive and strategic advisor focused on innovation, digital transformation, and the future of financial services. His leadership across major international institutions brings expertise in governance, cross-border strategy, and emerging business models.

Sameh El-Shahat

Sameh El-Shahat

Board Member

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Sameh El-Shahat is Co-Founder of Verityv Ecosystems and CEO of China-i (Huayu), with expertise in AI, unstructured data, and financial risk innovation. He has pioneered AI-driven methods for turning non-traditional risk signals into investment intelligence and has advised on more than $30 billion in transactions.

Michael Mainelli

Michael Mainelli

Board of Trustees Member

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Michael Mainelli is Chairman of Z/Yen Group and a former Lord Mayor of London. A scientist-turned-accountant, he has led innovations across mapping, finance, and technology while holding senior roles in academia, government, and industry.

Karl Cramp

Karl Cramp

Board of Trustees Member

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Karl Cramp is a serial entrepreneur with more than 40 years of experience across engineering, telecoms, financial services, and retail. He has founded and scaled national and online businesses, held numerous board roles, and now mentors investment ventures with a focus on ethical growth, innovation, and governance.

Fr. Philip Larrey

Fr. Philip Larrey

Advisor

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Fr. Philip Larrey is a Catholic priest, philosopher, and theologian working at the intersection of faith, science, and technology. A professor at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, he advises Vatican initiatives on ethics and artificial intelligence and speaks globally on AI, human dignity, and the future of humanity.

Leslie Wolfson

Leslie Wolfson

Advisor

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Leslie Wolfson is a board trustee and startup mentor with experience across entrepreneurship, technology, media, and investment. She supports founders, investors, and institutions through partnerships, growth strategy, and innovation in an AI-driven economy.

Peter Holden

Peter Holden

Advisor

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Peter Holden is Founder and Managing Partner of Dunworth Capital, with more than 30 years of experience in AI research, commercialization, and investment. He advocates for human-centered AI and supports initiatives spanning healthcare, ethics, mental health, and socially responsible technology.

William Divine

William Divine

Advisor

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William Divine is an energy entrepreneur who built major oil ventures through self-taught expertise before turning his focus to clean-energy innovation. His companies and charities capture wasted flare gas and transform pollution into power and valuable products.

Kouji Kodera

Kouji Kodera

Advisor

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Kouji Kodera is a wireless industry veteran with more than 20 years of leadership at Mitsubishi Electric, Sony Ericsson, HTC, and Motorola Mobility. He helped create products including Moto Z, HTC One, Xperia, Walkman, and Cybershot phones, and now leads i8 Labs in applying AI, computer vision, and smart sensor technology to new solutions.

Emily Jane Smith

Emily Jane Smith

Advisor

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Emily Jane Smith, LL.B., LL.M., is a cross-border legal professional and founder of Heniam & Associates, with experience in immigration, human rights, and international client representation between the UK and Spain. Her work brings a human-centered perspective to AI governance, including access to justice, automated decision-making, and responsible AI in legal and cross-border services.

Marshall Meyers

Marshall Meyers

Advisor

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Marshall Meyers is a veteran attorney and policy strategist with decades of experience in international law, regulatory affairs, animal welfare, and industry advocacy. He has advised trade associations, businesses, and global organizations on complex legislative and compliance matters.

Frank Di Crisi

Frank Di Crisi

Advisor

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Bio coming soon.

Conferences & Events

Where ideas become relationships.

Global AI Academy brings people together across technology, business, education, research, investment, policy, and society to explore the opportunities, questions, and responsibilities emerging around artificial intelligence.

  1. AI & Humanity

    ROME · CAMPO SANTO TEUTONICO

    An invitation-only gathering of approximately 80 leaders, innovators, investors, and thinkers focused on how artificial intelligence can advance human potential while protecting agency, responsibility, and human values. With His Holiness the Pope attending, the Rome gathering marks an important expression of Global AI Academy’s Humanity First mission and its commitment to bringing cross-disciplinary dialogue into places of global influence.

    SEPTEMBER 9, 2026
  2. More Events Coming Soon

    AROUND THE WORLD

    New Global AI Academy conferences and gatherings are in development. Join the email list to hear when new dates and locations are announced.

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