Why are we doing this?

When we first began discussing our desire to start UK AI Forum, one question we kept returning to was: why do this?  It's a question we believe should accompany the start of any new initiative. We challenged ourselves to honestly evaluate whether the UK AI Forum would fulfill a genuine need in the ecosystem - there were some obvious, straightforward answers, like "networking" or "collaboration," but we realised that our aim actually lied in capturing something grander and more elusive. 

The UK's AI ecosystem is packed with world-class labs, brilliant researchers, and visionary institutions, yet it's strangely fragmented. Everyone acknowledges this quietly: at conferences, over coffee, after another slightly awkward Zoom meetup that promised breakthrough authenticity but delivered small talk. So what's missing? We think it's the kind of organic connection that used to be at the heart of transformative moments in science, philosophy, and society.

If you've ever flipped through Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Joel Lehman and Kenneth Stanley, the philosophy guiding our approach. Groundbreaking ideas aren't born from tightly controlled conditions or strictly goal-directed actions. They spring up unexpectedly from the spaces between disciplines, from actual human conversations that happen when people don’t feel constrained by the sycophantic social undercurrent that characterises so many networking events. 

The UK AI Forum won’t be a networking hub. We're not interested in forced handshakes or business cards exchanged with quiet calculation. We believe that meaningful interactions come from intellectual curiosity and the openness to be surprised. Our plan is to host salon evenings, research dinners, and big parties in Cambridge and London where connection doesn't feel transactional, but joyful and curious. 

What we're after is closer to what happened in the salons of Enlightenment Britain - spaces where philosophers, scientists, artists, and thinkers could engage deeply with ideas and each other; where ideas were refined through collision with other minds.

So, why are we doing this? Because greatness isn't planned; it's invited. We're here to extend that invitation.