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Sara Lloyd
Pan Macmillan
Group Communications Director and Global AI Lead
A creative and collaborative leader, Sara Lloyd has made a significant impact in her first year as Global AI Lead for international trade publishers, Pan Macmillan: the first leadership role in trade publishing to be tasked with AI strategy. Sara has created and led an internationally coherent approach to AI across the company’s English speaking trade companies, including establishing a clear set of global AI principles, chairing a global governance structure, driving stakeholder engagement by advocating strongly for a people-centric approach to AI and spearheading new initiatives.The topic of AI in consumer publishing is a sensitive one, with serious, valid concerns from the creative community - including authors, illustrators, agents and others - around the use of copyright-protected works to train and develop AI systems. Sara has not allowed a contentious environment to faze her and has set about leading an open and collaborative discussion at a local and pan-industry level on the challenges and opportunities of this powerful new technology. From penning a regular thought leadership piece in trade magazine The Bookseller, to steering a series of transparent and open AI roundtable discussions with authors, illustrators and agents; delivering keynotes around the world to participating in a panel at the Labour Party conference: Sara has consistently advocated for embracing the opportunities of AI, not simply as a tool for operational efficiency but as a means of identifying and promoting under-represented voices and stories, at the same time as proposing a mindful approach to mitigate the risks of AI.