Goda Mockutė: This year’s keynote speaker

As THIMUN’s opening ceremony inched closer, the MUNITY Press and Communications team was able to meet the keynote speaker for this year’s conference, Goda Mockutė. Goda Mockutė is the AI Innovation & Partnerships Manager at Erasmus University Rotterdam and works on supporting companies in executing data science and AI projects in partnership with universities. Additionally, she has been with Ethical Intelligence (EI) organisation since its inception and has advised a variety of clients on responsible AI practices and implementation. 

Goda Mockutė is present at THIMUN this year in accordance with the theme of the conference; The impact of AI on humanity. “It wasn’t that long ago that I was in high school myself, and I remember how whenever I would hear somebody speak, whose words resonated with me, that did have quite a big impact”, she says, explaining her choice to participate in THIMUN 2025. “I’m coming in here, hoping that there can be a few things that I say that will stick with at least a few people, that’s going to have some kind of impact”. 

When asked about how AI will affect the world, she answers “Almost every aspect of the world will be affected, I compare AI to electricity because it is such a general-purpose technology, if you ask ‘Oh, what is electricity good for, where is it used’, the answer is ‘Almost everywhere’, and it’s the same thing with AI”. She explains that the sectors affected by AI and requiring close monitoring are the same ones that need oversight regardless of AI, such as healthcare and education.

Working in Erasmus University Rotterdam, Goda Mockutė is able to observe the evolution of the use of AI in classrooms. Her take on AI as a tool in the classroom is that it needs to be paired with critical thinking, and not handled blindly. “I don’t think it is a solution to ban it, or to avoid it, because it is not avoidable, it’s there, the cat is out of the bag!” Instead, she believes that users need to come up with clever, intelligent ways to integrate it to education. “AI is such a transformative force, maybe it can transform our education as well”. 

As this THIMUN experience was her first time addressing highschoolers, Goda Mockutė was anxious yet excited to go up on the opening ceremony stage and present her take on AI and its use. However, she did an incredible job of drawing in her audience and presenting the different aspects of AI and its use!