Meet the Speaker: Kay Firth-Butterfield

Kay Firth-Butterfield is the Executive Director for the Centre for Trustworthy Technology. She is one of the foremost experts in the world on governance of artificial intelligence (AI) and has served as former head of Artificial Intelligence and a Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum. As a former judge, professor, technologist, and entrepreneur, she has an abiding interest in how humanity can equitably benefit from new technologies. She has served as Associate Barrister for Doughty Street Chambers, Master of the Inner Temple, London and was appointed to the Lord Chief Justice’s Advisory Panel on AI and Law. She co-founded the Responsible AI Institute and was the world’s first Chief AI Ethics officer in 2014. While Vice-Chair of The IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems, she was part of the group that met at Asilomar to create the Asilomar AI Ethical Principles. She has also contributed to the Polaris Council for the Government Accountability Office (USA), the Advisory Board for UNESCO International Research Centre on AI, EarthSpecies.org and AI4All. She holds advanced degrees in law and international relations and regularly speaks to international audiences addressing many aspects of the beneficial and challenging technical, economic and social changes arising from the use of AI.