Today's Tower of Babel

Large Language Models (LLMs) claim to converse in dozens of languages — but can they really, or are they just fancy English-speaking
parrots with a translation side hustle? In this talk, we explore the multilingual capabilities of AI, along with some of the mechanisms that
underlie them. We examine why models can sound fluent yet remain incapable of truly mastering every language, despite their impressive compute. Join us to learn about ongoing efforts to turn LLMs into global citizens rather than tourists with perfect pronunciation!

Humanity has built an international order on top of the natural world, but what happens when that foundation begins to crack? We're facing countless crises — pandemics, ecological collapse, mass migration — and the institutions we've built to manage them are struggling to keep up. A key reason is that our legal and governance systems were designed for a stable world. Climate change and planetary shifts are proving that assumption false. This talk explores what it would mean to adapt global legal frameworks to respond to a changing world, focusing on two concepts that challenge the human-centric approach we've traditionally used: One Health and rights of nature. Together, they point towards a legal, institutional, and societal vision that is fit for the planet we actually live on.