This annual lecture has been given since 2018 by a prominent official or scholar in law and technology. In addition, this year will be marking a special milestone: Hans Franken’s 90th birthday. The lecture will be held by Payal Arora and is titled: ‘From Pessimism to Promise: Governing AI Beyond Fear in an Unequal World’. Payal Arora is Professor at Utrecht University and Founder of the Inclusive AI Lab, where she challenges doomsday narratives in AI and advocates for reclaiming techno-optimism grounded in long-term fieldwork across the Global South. She argues that hope is a moral imperative in shaping AI futures, and that pessimism is a position of privilege.