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Why Data Control Will Decide the Next Era of Diplomacy

In global negotiations, whoever controls the data controls the narrative. Yet much of diplomacy still runs on restricted databases and slow, outdated systems that favor gatekeepers over collaboration. Georgina Songhurst saw this firsthand while trying to make UN data usable for students-an experience that exposed how access, not insight, often determines power. Through Model Diplomat, the AI platform she built at sixteen, she’s showing how open, reliable data can level the field for a new generation of global thinkers. Now used by more than 70,000 people worldwide and tested by diplomats and NGOs, Model Diplomat turns research that once took months into minutes. Georgina’s work reveals a new diplomatic frontier-one where transparency, not secrecy, decides who gets heard, and where the next great negotiation might be won not in the chamber, but in the dataset.

About Georgina Songhurst

Georgina Songhurst, podcast guest

Young Entrepreneur and Founder of Model Diplomat, Making Global Affairs Accessible Through AI

100,000+ users Students, researchers and policy professionals using Model Diplomat worldwide2 million documents Source base powering Model Diplomat’s retrieval system193+ countries Country positions covered by the platform142,000 followers Model Diplomat community

At sixteen, while most students were memorising speeches for their first Model UN conference, Georgina Songhurst was building the tool she wished existed. Her school club was struggling to compete, research was endless, resources unreliable, and the UN’s own library felt impenetrable. So she decided to fix it.

That impulse became Model Diplomat, an AI-powered platform that makes global affairs accessible to everyone. What started as a side project in her bedroom grew into a global community of more than 70,000 users and 142,000 followers, backed by collaborations with major MUN conferences and conversations with the United Nations itself. Along the way, Georgina found herself negotiating with diplomats to gain data access, learning how to code around firewalls, and fielding a $1.5 million offer for her company before finishing school.

Her journey hasn’t been one of shortcuts or polish. When the UN’s servers blocked her, she turned to Wikipedia and discovered how its rigorously moderated pages could train AI to deliver better, fairer answers. That decision defined her philosophy: technology shouldn’t replace human curiosity, but sharpen it.

Today, Georgina speaks not as a prodigy, but as proof that bold ideas can come from anywhere.

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