UKAI Women in AI Working Group
Driving practical, inclusive AI adoption through leadership, evidence, and shared action
Why This Group Exists
This group was created to change that.
It brings together senior leaders from across the UKAI network who are driving practical action on inclusion, accountability, and representation in AI. Members are not only advocating for change, but they are also shaping how inclusive design, governance, and leadership actually happen in practice. They are influencing procurement, contributing to internal playbooks, advising on industry standards, and bringing lived experience into technical and strategic decisions.
How the Group Works
Members contribute to UKAI’s wider programme by:
- Shaping roundtable topics and discussion guides
- Participating in fireside conversations and dinners
- Co-authoring outputs and contributing to cross-group insights
- Feeding into UKAI’s national policy response and strategic positioning on inclusive AI
What the Group Delivers
Focused roundtables
that address critical issues such as inclusive model development, internal governance, vendor accountability, and representation in product, policy, and procurement decisions. These sessions are designed for open exchange and shared learning under the Chatham House Rule.
Candid fireside conversations
with influential voices across government, industry, research, and society. These discussions create space to speak plainly about what is working, what is missing, and how to drive more meaningful progress on equity in AI.
Collaborative tools and frameworks
co-developed by members, from bias audit approaches and inclusive recruitment checklists to procurement guidance and internal impact metrics. These outputs are shaped by what members need to drive change in practice.
Strategic engagement across UKAI
ensuring that inclusion and equity are not siloed but embedded in wider policy discussions, sector roundtables, and working group outputs across the network.
What the Group Is Working On
- Making equity part of day-to-day product and engineering decisions, not just policy statements
- Developing inclusive leadership models and practical approaches to team design, recruitment, and retention
- Building internal AI playbooks that integrate fairness, representation, and accountability into core development workflows
- Creating procurement and vendor evaluation frameworks that include equity, ethical assurance, and social impact criteria
- Aligning inclusive AI efforts with broader organisational governance, risk, and performance objectives
- Surfacing and supporting underrepresented talent across the AI and data lifecycle, from early careers to senior leadership
Outputs include practical guidance notes, internal templates, shared case studies, strategic briefings, and inputs into UKAI’s wider policy work. All content is co-developed with members and focused on action, not theory.
Working Group Members
Zahra Shah – Chair of the Women in AI Working Group
Zahra brings sharp strategic insight and deep technical expertise to her role as Chair. An award-winning AI and frontier tech advisor, Zahra has spent her career at the intersection of innovation, finance, and social impact. She is widely recognised for her leadership across sectors, serving as a board member, investor, and speaker committed to making emerging technologies more inclusive, accountable, and transformative.
Before stepping into her portfolio career, Zahra spent over a decade at Accenture, where she led major transformation projects for global investment banks including Credit Suisse, UBS, HSBC, and Lloyds. Her work has spanned AI-driven FinTech and RegTech innovation, with a particular focus on solutions that address regulatory complexity and compliance challenges.
As Chair, Zahra brings not only deep industry knowledge, but also a personal commitment to shifting how power, voice, and opportunity are distributed in tech. She is passionate about supporting members to move from conversation to action and ensuring the group’s work reflects both real delivery and real change.
Claire Roberts – Founder & AI Transformation Lead, Full Fathom Five
Claire has worked as a senior technology leader for 25 years, shaping IT & AI strategy for big brands, and leading major transformative change across Mergers & Acquisitions, ERP, Financial Regulatory Reform, and AI Engineering & Technology. As Ex-Senior Director of Value, Transformation & Change for Arm, Claire has a strong pedigree in connecting technology with business value, and driving strategic enterprise-wide change agendas focussed on sustainable business growth.
Deeply committed to workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion, Claire has successfully led multiple global programmes aimed at fostering creativity & innovation by embedding and maturing DE&I thinking.
As Co-founder of Full Fathom Five, Claire now partners with organisations to develop strategic, business-led AI roadmaps grounded firmly in ethics, people-centric principles, and measurable value creation. She is also a speaker/guest lecturer on AI Ethics and the emerging leadership skills in the era of AI, and has authored training programmes designed to equip leaders with the skills needed to design & deliver effective AI strategy & transformation programmes.
How to Get Involved
To request membership or nominate a colleague, contact Stephen Moore, Director of Membership and Engagement.
