Sophia Smith Galer
Sophia Smith Galer is a journalist, writer, speaker, and content creator, recognised for her pioneering work in digital journalism on TikTok, earning over 160 million global views. She is also the creator of the award-winning AI tool Sophina, which helps creators write copy such as video scripts, and amplify their work online.
Having featured in British Vogue and Forbes 30 Under 30,she’s also worked with the BBC, VICE News and Sky News, and was awarded the 2024 Women In Journalism award for Digital Innovation.
How to Speak AI’s Secret Language
If you don't work in tech, AI feels mystifying; the reality is that a special set of cues, prompts and techniques can enable anyone and everyone to use AI to improve their lives. Sophia Smith Galer, journalist, linguist, and prize winner for her eponymous AI-powered tool Sophina, walks you through the criteria for deciding if AI is suitable for a scenario, followed by techniques on how to speak to an LLM like ChatGPT to get it to help, not hinder, you.
Sophia will walk through the language of prompt engineering, or as she calls it, "speaking promptese" - it's a whole new way of understanding how humans can speak, and work with, machines, and Sophia considers it a new register of language to compliment her existing working life. This will include fun scenarios for viewers to consider and the format can be made more interactive if clients prefer more audience participation
Her exclusive reporting across health and technology has led to platform changes everywhere from TikTok to the NHS website, and her journalism around sexual and reproductive health has led to the exposure of British anti-abortion funding as well as the UK government’s secret withdrawal of millions of pounds of sex education funding. She was the first journalist to report the misuse of political ads on TikTok during the 2020 US election, which was broadcast in her first television documentary The TikTok Election.
She is the only reporter in the UK to be both HEFAT trained to handle hostile environments and accredited via acet UK to deliver sex education, following the publication of her book Losing It: Dispelling the Sex Myths that Rule Our Lives. It was published by Harper Collins in 2022 to critical acclaim and was a No.1 Amazon bestseller in its category. She became a Visiting Fellow in 2023 for Brown University’s Information Futures Lab where she has developed resources for combating misinformation and misogyny in British schools that she delivers personally.
Sophia first spoke internationally about her work when she was invited to give a speech in Arabic at the United Nations Headquarters in New York aged just 22.
Over the last few years, she has delivered talks from the Royal Festival Hall to Google. She also chairs panels across the year, including at the Cheltenham festivals and the Web Summit, and has hosted Q&As with everybody from the CEO of Only Fans to trainspotter Francis Bourgeois.
TESTIMONIALS
“Smith Galer is at the forefront of a changing journalism landscape.”
British Vogue
“Consistently engaging and witty whilst always rigorously fact-based and fresh”
British Journalism Awards
Additional talks from Sophia Smith Galer include:
Generational Divides: Workplace Culture, Language Differences and Initiatives Organisations Can Adopt
Fighting Misinformation: News Media, Tech and Our Role in Battling Falsehoods
AI for Good: Ethics, Creativity, and Responsible Tech
Digital Innovation /Social Media: How Can Social Media Drive Success and Engagement