Sarah Porter
Sarah Porter is the Founder and CEO of InspiredMinds!, a global artificial intelligence and emerging-technology community, and the Founder of World Summit AI, one of the world’s leading applied-AI conference series.
A British technology entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience launching and scaling technology businesses, she has built an international network connecting researchers, scientists, policymakers, and industry leaders across the applied AI ecosystem, driven by a mission to democratize artificial intelligence for good and social impact.
InspiredMinds! is a global technology and science strategy group focused on AI4Good across healthcare, education, STEM, and government, uniting enterprises, big tech, startups, investors, academics, researchers, and clinicians. Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it has become one of the world’s largest and most active artificial intelligence communities, spanning more than 160 countries.
Its flagship summits include World Summit AI, first launched in Amsterdam and since extended to Doha, Montreal, and other cities, and Intelligent Health, the world-leading AI-in-medicine forum for clinicians, researchers, and technologists, with editions in London and Basel. Sarah also founded TMinus-30, a climate-technology community, and chairs the InspiredMinds Foundation, which supports underrepresented groups in accessing AI education and opportunities.
In 2024, the InspiredMinds! ecosystem and its summit portfolio were acquired by Growth Catalyst Partners, a United States private-equity firm, and integrated into the Data Society Group; InspiredMinds! continues to operate independently under Sarah’s leadership, with plans to expand its festival-style AI summits into the United States.
Sarah is a recognized voice on artificial intelligence governance, ethics, and responsible innovation. She has advised the United Nations on lethal autonomous weapons systems, contributing to meetings connected to its Office for Disarmament Affairs on the regulation of autonomous weapons and the responsible use of AI in warfare, and she has advised the European Union on AI.
The InspiredMinds community also engaged with the United States Department of Homeland Security on its Roles and Responsibilities Framework for Artificial Intelligence in Critical Infrastructure. Sarah visited the Department and coordinated input from her international network into the consultation process.
From 2017 to 2023, she was Founder of Ada-AI, a nonprofit group of leading scientists and technologists dedicated to ensuring that emerging technologies are developed inclusively and equitably, and she served as Chairperson of the Advisory Board of Women in AI in 2020 and as Director of Community Outreach at AI Commons between 2019 and 2020.
A long-standing advocate for women’s representation in science and technology, Sarah began working with the Afghan Girls Robotics Team, known as the Afghan Dreamers, in 2017, lobbying on their behalf during the United States travel ban that initially barred the team from a competition in Washington, DC.
The team went on to win the 2018 Rookie Inspiration Award at the FIRST Robotics World Championship in Detroit. With the team’s founder, Roya Mahboob, Sarah developed plans for a STEAM school in Afghanistan, the SaRoya Institute, a project ultimately halted following the escalation of conflict in Kabul. During the fall of Kabul in 2021, she coordinated efforts that supported more than 250 Afghan nationals, relocating members of the Afghan Dreamers and their families to safety. Watch 2018 Detroit FRC World Championship – FTC Inspire Award.
In 2026, Sarah founded Women in Unexpected Places, a charity helping women and girls from low- and middle-income countries enter male-dominated sectors. A frequent keynote speaker and media commentator on AI ethics, diversity, and inclusion, she has delivered a public lecture at Canterbury Christ Church University and appeared on Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC to discuss developments in artificial intelligence.
Sarah has been named among the United Kingdom’s Most Influential Women in Technology by Computer Weekly in both 2022 and 2024, and was a finalist in the Women in Tech Global Awards in the Women in Tech Ally category.
Sarah began a part-time Master’s in Neuroscience, Psychology and Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London in 2023, later pausing her studies under the demands of her growing business.
Based in the United Kingdom, Sarah is also an endurance athlete who has run ultramarathons for causes including the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and fundraising for Afghan women, and an endurance swimmer. In January 2026, while running the 108-mile Montane Winter Spine Challenger South as a fundraiser for women and girls in Afghanistan, she was withdrawn from the course for her safety after organizers were alerted to death threats linked to her advocacy; she has vowed to continue both her fundraising and her racing.
Read Sarah Coles Porter Interview: Tech, incubators and transparency.
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