Author Archive

Rory Gillis (Oxford Internet Institute)

photo of contributing author Rory Gillis

Rory Gillis is a Research Project Support Officer at the Oxford Internet Institute, where he works on the Governance of Emerging Technologies programme. He researches topics related to AI governance, with a current focus on UK AI policy. Last year, he graduated with an MPhil in Political Theory from Mansfield College, Oxford.

Throughout the recent political turmoil in Downing Street, the civil service has continued to develop policy on artificial intelligence, including by developing its 2021 National AI Strategy through a more detailed policy paper (titled ‘Establishing a pro-innovation approach to regulating AI’) that gives further guidance about the intended approach. This policy paper is of domestic and international importance, as the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks to capitalise on the UK’s AI potential at a time when governments worldwide grapple with how to regulate the emerging technology. Notably, the tone of the paper, as introduced by then-ministers Nadine Dorres and Kwasi Kwarteng, emphasises a ‘proportionate, light-touch and forward-looking’ attitude that looks to ‘unleash growth and innovation’ in the field. The framing of an …