Magnús Smári Smárason

For almost sixteen years, I served as a paramedic and firefighter in Iceland. My role was rarely about heroics. It was about being there—steadily, humanly—when people needed help the most. From the rawness of tragedy to the joy of new life, that work taught me humility, curiosity, grit, and a lasting respect for the human condition.

When I stepped away, I did so proud of my service and grateful for everything it had taught me. I felt ready for a new kind of duty—one still rooted in service, but facing a different kind of emergency.

I transitioned into knowledge work: first with Iceland's fire prevention authority, then briefly into union leadership. Around that time, GPT emerged—and something clicked. I dove in headfirst, later studying low-code data science at Oxford, where I met Ajit Jaokar, who became both a mentor and a colleague. Since then, I've spoken at Oxford AI courses and the 2025 AI Summit, written widely on AI in Icelandic media, and, in 2025, became the AI Project Manager at the University of Akureyri.

It hasn't been an easy journey, but it's been a meaningful one. Beneath all the code and governance, my work remains human-focused. Whether in the chaos of an ambulance or the complexity of AI deployment, my goal is the same: to help people flourish.

We are facing a technological tidal wave. My hope is to help others navigate it—using AI not to replace what makes us human, but to protect and strengthen it. The best care always starts with this: Treat the patient, not the monitor.