Jacob Allen

(he/him)

Jacob Allen

Brighton & Hove City Council

City Councillor & Cabinet Member

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jacob Allen is a Brighton & Hove City Councillor and Cabinet Member at Brighton & Hove City Council, with experience across local government, public policy, stakeholder engagement, third sector partnerships and strategic communications. He currently serves as Cabinet Member for Customer Services and Public Realm and is Labour and Cooperative Councillor for Woodingdean. His council work spans community representation, local governance, service transformation, planning and public realm, alongside responsibilities across a broad portfolio of local government services. Alongside his council role, Jacob has worked in Parliament as a Caseworker for Dr Beccy Cooper MP, having previously served as Media and Communications Manager. His wider experience includes senior communications and public affairs roles with Silverstone Communications and JBP, as well as political organising roles with The Labour Party. He studied International Politics at the University of Surrey.

Sessions

Matt Thompsett

Amber Foster

Matthew Holman

Lucia Bertello

Jacob Allen

AI Safety, Trust & Control: Governing Intelligent Systems in the Agentic Era

As artificial intelligence moves rapidly from experimentation into operational reality, organisations face an urgent challenge: how do we innovate at speed without losing control, trust or accountability? Facilitated by Matt Thompsett of Green Lemon Company, this panel brings together technology leaders, practitioners and industry voices to explore how we govern increasingly intelligent, autonomous and agentic systems. Moving beyond abstract ethics theory, the discussion will focus on the practical risks now emerging as AI becomes embedded into products, services, operations and wider digital infrastructure. From AI safety, security and data sovereignty to bias, transparency, explainability and regulation, the panel will examine what responsible leadership looks like when AI systems are becoming more powerful, distributed and harder to oversee. A key focus will be the growing challenge of agent sprawl, where teams deploy AI tools, copilots and autonomous workflows faster than governance models can keep up. The panel will explore how organisations can maintain visibility, control and human oversight without slowing innovation to a standstill. Rather than positioning governance as a barrier, the session will explore how strong safety frameworks, operational controls and organisational readiness can become competitive advantages, helping organisations adopt AI confidently, sustainably and responsibly. For founders, executives, architects, policymakers and delivery leaders alike, this panel offers a timely opportunity to understand what it will take to build, deploy and govern intelligent systems we can genuinely trust.

Matt Thompsett

Amber Foster

Matthew Holman

Lucia Bertello

Jacob Allen

AI Safety, Trust & Control: Governing Intelligent Systems in the Agentic Era

As artificial intelligence moves rapidly from experimentation into operational reality, organisations face an urgent challenge: how do we innovate at speed without losing control, trust or accountability? Facilitated by Matt Thompsett of Green Lemon Company, this panel brings together technology leaders, practitioners and industry voices to explore how we govern increasingly intelligent, autonomous and agentic systems. Moving beyond abstract ethics theory, the discussion will focus on the practical risks now emerging as AI becomes embedded into products, services, operations and wider digital infrastructure. From AI safety, security and data sovereignty to bias, transparency, explainability and regulation, the panel will examine what responsible leadership looks like when AI systems are becoming more powerful, distributed and harder to oversee. A key focus will be the growing challenge of agent sprawl, where teams deploy AI tools, copilots and autonomous workflows faster than governance models can keep up. The panel will explore how organisations can maintain visibility, control and human oversight without slowing innovation to a standstill. Rather than positioning governance as a barrier, the session will explore how strong safety frameworks, operational controls and organisational readiness can become competitive advantages, helping organisations adopt AI confidently, sustainably and responsibly. For founders, executives, architects, policymakers and delivery leaders alike, this panel offers a timely opportunity to understand what it will take to build, deploy and govern intelligent systems we can genuinely trust.