Brighton AI started in 2023 as a small meetup group for people in Sussex who wanted to talk honestly about AI — not just the excitement, but the questions, the risks, and what it all actually means. A few years on, we're still at it, with 2,000 members and a community that's proudly mixed.
Brighton AI is a free, volunteer-led community organisation based in Sussex. We bring together people from across the region who want to engage seriously with AI — its technology, its ethics, its social and economic impact, and what it means for the industries and communities of Sussex.
We run events — panels, workshops, no-code meetups, roundtables — and we try to make sure those events are genuinely useful and genuinely accessible. No membership fees. No jargon gatekeeping. No assumption that you need a technical background to have a useful opinion.
We're currently going through a reset — clarifying our strategy, formalising our structure, and building the foundations that will let us do more ambitious work over the next few years. That work is happening openly, and if you want to be part of it, we'd like to hear from you.
We are not a lobbying group, a commercial training provider, or a research body. We don't speak for the tech industry, and we're not funded by it. We're a community organisation, and the community is what we're here to serve.
Brighton AI is Sussex-wide, not just Brighton. The creative and digital cluster in Brighton is important to us, but so are the businesses in Eastbourne, the farmers and growers across the Weald, the port workers in Newhaven and Shoreham, and the aviation supply chain around Gatwick. AI is going to touch all of these communities, and all of them deserve to be part of the conversation.
Brighton AI is run entirely by volunteers. We're currently rebuilding our core team and governance structure as part of the reset. If you're interested in getting involved at an organisational level — as an organiser, a director, or an advisor — please get in touch.
"Brighton AI has always been for the full range of people who have a stake in how AI develops — not just the people building it."
Brighton AI founding principles
These aren't aspirational statements for a website. They're the things that have always shaped how Brighton AI operates.
AI affects everyone. The conversations about it should include everyone. No technical background required, no membership fee, no gatekeeping.
We don't just celebrate AI. We engage with the risks, the ethics, the displacement, the uncertainty. The hard conversations are the important ones.
Brighton AI's events, topics, and direction are shaped by its members. We create the space; the community decides what happens in it.
We don't sell anything. We're not funded by the tech industry. We exist to serve the community, not to market to it.