Roundtables: Why It’s So Hard to Make Welfare AI Fair - MIT Technology Review

Listen to the session or watch below Can AI design new life forms? In 2025, Stanford University PhD student Samuel King came up with a preliminary answer when he used a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses. It isn’t yet an example of AI-generated life, but that could be next. Watch…

This series of Strategic Roundtables brings together delegates, experts from WHO, partner agencies and civil society to discuss current priorities and next solutions on vital issues for global public health. The events are taking place at the WHO headquarters and webcast on this web page. Watch the sessions on 19–21 May 2026 at 13:00–14:15 CEST. SessionsTuesday 19 May 2026, 13:00–14:15 CEST, Executive Board Room, Building A, WHOFrom COVID-19 lessons to action: the evolution of the WHO Health Emergencies ProgrammeThe Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly marks over six years since WHO declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and a decade since the establishment of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme. This Roundtable provides a timely opportunity to take stock of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and how they have been translated into broader institutional reforms and commitments across WHO. Global public health leaders will discuss how innovations developed during and in the aftermath of the pandemic are shaping WHO’s and the world’s response to emergencies in complex settings.

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