Kay Firth-Butterfield

Kay Firth-Butterfield is a globally recognised authority on AI governance and ethics, combining expertise in law, technology, and international policy. As CEO of Good Tech Advisory and a 2024 TIME Impact awardee, she was the world's first Chief AI Ethics Officer in 2014 and served as the inaugural Head of AI at the World Economic Forum, shaping global frameworks for responsible technology deployment. Her newly published book, *Coexisting With AI: Work, Love and Play in a Changing World*, equips leaders and organisations with practical governance strategies to navigate AI's expanding role across operations, decision-making, and society, empowering audiences to adopt emerging technologies wisely whilst maintaining accountability and human-centred values.

When Kay Firth-Butterfield became the world's first Chief AI Ethics Officer in 2014, artificial intelligence was barely part of public conversation. A decade later, she has shaped how governments, businesses, and international institutions govern the technology transforming every sector of society. As CEO of Good Tech Advisory and author of the newly published *Coexisting With AI: Work, Love and Play in a Changing World*, she continues to guide leaders through the practical challenges of deploying AI responsibly. Her 2024 TIME Impact Award recognises a career dedicated to ensuring emerging technologies serve humanity wisely, and her influence extends from boardrooms to policy chambers across continents.

Her credibility rests on an unusual breadth of expertise spanning law, technology, and international policy. After beginning her career as a barrister and part-time judge in the United Kingdom, she pioneered AI governance frameworks as the inaugural Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at the World Economic Forum, where she established global standards still shaping regulatory approaches today. She co-founded the Responsible AI Institute and serves as an Associate Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers and Master of the Inner Temple, London. Her advisory work reaches UNESCO's International Research Centre on AI, the Lord Chief Justice's Advisory Panel on AI and Law, and AI4All, whilst her academic contributions as Senior Research Fellow at the University of Texas and Associate Fellow at Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence ground her counsel in rigorous scholarship. Recognised by the New York Times in 2021 as one of 10 Women Changing the Landscape of Leadership and by Forbes in its 50:50 Innovation list, she has advised governments worldwide on mitigating AI risks whilst unlocking its transformative potential.

Kay equips audiences with practical governance strategies they can implement immediately, addressing the accountability challenges leaders face as AI systems move from tools into autonomous agents. Her speaking engagements translate complex technical and ethical considerations into actionable frameworks for decision-makers navigating AI's expanding role across operations, workforce planning, and public services. Whether addressing regulators developing policy or executives deploying AI at scale, she provides clarity on verifiable digital identity, organisational accountability, and human-centred design principles that protect both innovation and public trust. Audiences leave her sessions with concrete approaches to adopting emerging technologies wisely, maintaining control over AI-driven decisions, and building governance structures that evolve alongside the technology itself.