‘… we must decide how to live well in a networked digital age: collectively, consciously and intentionally, with the goal of nurturing flourishing human communities, rather than guided by a simplistic pre-occupation with ‘unleashing technological power’ in ways that we may well live to regret.’
Karen Yeung
Academic Advisor Speaker
Academic
Karen Yeung is a leading scholar in the governance of emerging technologies. She is recognised worldwide for her work in the regulation and governance of AI, urging scholars from computer science, engineering, law, the humanities and the social sciences to engage in the interdisciplinary work needed to address the novel social challenges which these increasingly powerful technologies generate.
She currently holds an Interdisciplinary Chair in Law, Ethics and Informatics at the University of Birmingham, based in the Birmingham Law School and the School of Computer Science.
In a world in which AI systems increasingly configure our collective and individual environments, entitlements and access to, or exclusion from, opportunities and resources, it is essential that the protection of human rights, alongside respect for the rule of law and the protection of democracy, is assured to maintain the character of our political communities as constitutional democratic orders in which every individual is free to pursue his or her own version of the good life as far as this is possible within a framework of peaceful and stable cooperation framework underpinned by the rule of law.
Karen Yeung ‘AI Governance by Human Rights-Centred Design, Deliberation and Oversight: An End to Ethics Washing
Advisor
Karen Yeung’s work on the legal, ethical, and regulatory challenges arising from the emergence of new technologies has significant policy impact, particularly her work on the implications of automation and networked digital technologies. She has been extensively involved in many technology policy initiatives at the European, international, and national levels, including the EU’s High Level Expert Group on AI, the Council of Europe and the World Economic Forum.
Within the UK, she has assisted a wide range of policy-makers and organisations in relation to various technology policy concerns, including the British Academy, the Royal Society, UKRI, the Digital Regulators Cooperation Forum (DRCF), the NHS and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. She is Special Advisor to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights, to support its inquiry into AI regulation and human rights
Karen Yeung actively supports civil society organisations that seek to nurture human rights and democracy in a digital age, including UN’s Global Judicial Integrity Network, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratization and Human Rights (ODIHR), and the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet).
Speaker
Karen Yeung regularly gives talks to the public, specialist audiences, academic researchers and students on the legal, ethical and governance challenges of contemporary digital transformation, particularly the implications of artificial intelligence.
She has spoken to governments, think tanks, private sector organisations, and researchers in many countries including the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia, Finland, and the Netherlands, about the role of the law and legal institutions in governing networked digital technologies responsibly to protect and nurture human flourishing.
