From 6–10 July 2026, Soroptimist International representatives gathered in Geneva to contribute to global discussions on artificial intelligence, digital cooperation and technology governance. The following reflections were drafted by Tania Gómez Herazo, SI Advocacy AI Advisor, and cover sessions she attended, led and contributed to on 8 July during the AI for Good Global Summit 2026.
Reports by Tania Gómez Herazo, SI Advocacy AI Advisor
“The Next Owner” Workshop
AI for Good Startup Accelerator Cohort 2026
Event: AI for Good Global Summit 2026, Startup Accelerator programme
Organiser: AI for Good Global Summit 2026 supported by Soroptimist International network of AI Experts
Date: 8 July 2026, 10:00–11:00, Palexpo
Role: Workshop lead
Every startup journey has a “next owner” of its vision, a public market, a strategic acquirer, or a new governance model. Drawing on more than two decades of digital transformation leadership, I designed this workshop to help founders connect long-term exit scenarios with the daily decisions they make about technology, talent, and partnerships.
We treated exits not as a financial finish line but as a mission question: how do you preserve purpose and AI ethics as venture scales and change hands? Through real-world scenarios and a guided canvas exercise, founders mapped who need to win at exit, founders, early employees, investors, and communities, and defined success beyond valuation. Each participant left with a one-page view of their venture’s possible exit paths and trade-offs between financial, social, and governance outcomes.
My reflection: mission-driven founders, including many entrepreneurs leading AI ventures, too often discover misalignment with investors only when it is too late to fix. Teaching founders to negotiate their mission early is economic empowerment in its most practical form, and it shapes whether “AI for Good” survives in contact with the market.
Women in AI: Leadership, Innovation and Growth
High-Level Roundtable
Event: AI for Good Global Summit 2026
Organiser: Soroptimist International in partnership with AI for Good Global Summit 2026
Date: 8 July 2026, 14:00–15:30, Palexpo
Role: Lead expert and moderator
Designing and moderating this roundtable was a highlight of my week. Rather than a panel, we convened nine thematic tables, spanning empowerment, innovation, and responsibility, with leaders from governments, industry, professional networks, and youth, working through action-oriented questions.
The conclusions were concrete. On skills: universal AI literacy for every woman and girl, lifelong re-skilling ecosystems, and human-centred education that ensures AI amplifies rather than replaces human capability. On decent work: gender-responsive labour policies so AI-era jobs offer equal pay and protection. On ethics: mandatory, proactive disclosure of how data is used: “measure harm where it happens.” On safety: a pioneering AI index, developed in Kenya, to measure gender-based digital harms worldwide. On leadership: mentorship and sponsorship pipelines to lift women from 14% of senior tech leadership toward parity: “we lift as we climb.” And on governance: binding rules, impact assessments, and inclusion of affected women in testing.
A closing reflection from the AI for Good team stayed with me: their youth robotics championship reaches 18,000 children with 50% girls’ participation, because the terms of reference required it. Change is intentional.
Several tables independently concluded that international networks like Soroptimist International are among the strongest advocates all women and girls currently have. That is both an honour and an assignment.
