The developers of AI are building a technology that will have profound implications for society, not just in the here and now, but for generations to come. Alongside the great promise of the technology, we are seeing growing fears about its perils, and increasing calls to "pace the frontier". What does this mean, and how do institutions need to adapt to meet the moment? 

For decades, the law could treat computers as instruments: sophisticated typewriters, ledgers or calculators. Even as machine learning advanced, software remained a tool directed by human hands. That assumption breaks down when systems begin to act, setting sub-goals, entering commitments, executing transactions, and negotiating with other autonomous agents across borders and jurisdictions. It is one of the reasons the calls for caution have grown louder. 

This Presidential Keynote Address features Dr Nicklas Lundblad, co-founder of the Pharos Futures Research Group and former Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs at Google DeepMind. Drawing on two decades at the frontier of AI development and policy, and on his work in strategic foresight, he examines the friction between agentic AI and fundamental legal doctrine. What does "agency" mean when intent is statistical? Where do responsibility, liability, and duty of care fall when no person directed the specific outcome, and no single engineer can fully reconstruct it? 

Looking past compliance checklists, Lundblad turns to the harder question of how legal categories, institutions, and reasoning must adapt when agency is no longer uniquely human. 

The session marks a milestone for the IBA's newly launched Artificial Intelligence Institute, created to bring the legal profession's expertise to bear on global AI governance and policy. IBA President Claudio Visco will open the session, and the Institute's founding Director, Dr Farzana Dudhwala, will respond to the keynote and lead the discussion that follows. This session is also open to paid guests, who are warmly invited to attend.