UN appoints celebrated Southampton scientist Dame Wendy Hall to new AI body

A celebrated scientist from Southampton has been appointed to the United Nations high-level advisory body on artificial intelligence.

Dame Wendy Hall, a Regius Professor of Computer Science from the University of Southampton and Director of its Web Science Institute, was selected from more than 1,800 nominees across 128 countries.

She joins 31 experts from across the world to undertake analysis and advance recommendations for the international governance of AI.

Dame Wendy, who was named the first UK artificial intelligence skills champion in 2018, said: “I feel very privileged to have been appointed by the United Nations to be on this new AI advisory body.

“As new AI technologies and capabilities emerge, it is so important that we harness them for good, while ensuring they don’t evolve in ways that would be harmful to society. It is very exciting to be part of the global discussions on the best way to manage this.”

Her role in the UN advisory body will see Dame Wendy work with experts from government, private sector and civil society to provide insights from the breadth of her research at Southampton.

This includes the £31million Responsible AI UK programme, known as RAI UK, which intends to fuel Britain’s ambitions to be a science and technology superpower.

The new UN advisory body will commence this month, working together for a year, before submitting its recommendations in late 2024.

Read more about Dame Wendy’s pioneering work in computer science and AI at the University of Southampton at damewendydbe.com.