Kay Firth-Butterfield

Kay Firth-Butterfield is the CEO of Good Tech Advisory and has been leading work on responsible design, development and use of AI from the beginning.

Kay covers topics including responsible and ethical adoption of AI, the impact of AI on workforce diversity, regulation, management and leadership in the age of AI, and organizational governance. She delivers keynotes, seminars, and workshops, tailoring her sessions—sometimes combining regulatory and management aspects with interactive workshops. Kay works with corporates, professional organizations, and boards, and adapts her presentations to the audience’s needs, drawing from her background as a professor and board member.

In 2024 Kay received the TIME 100 AI Impact Award, was listed as a ‘Who’s Who Emerging Innovator’ and in ‘Who’s Who in America, Forbes 50 over 50’.

In 2014 she became the world’s first Chief AI Ethics Officer and became Vice-Chair of the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems in 2015 and the founding head of AI & Quantum at the World Economic Forum in 2017 where she also served on the Executive Committee.

She is frequently cited as a leading woman in AI and was featured in the New York Times as a woman changing the landscape of leadership.

Her new book “Co-Existing with AI: A Guide to working loving and playing with AI will be published by Wiley in Jan 2026 and is available for pre-order.

By background she is a British Barrister and former Judge and is the author of books on Human Rights, AI and Modern Slavery. She developed an interest in how technology will impact humans around the world while studying for advanced degrees in International Relations and law and has been focused on Responsible design, development and use of AI for more than a decade. She was part of the group which met at Asilomar to create the world’s first ethical principles on AI in 2017.

Amongst others she sits on the Polaris Council for the Government Accountability Office (USA), the Advisory Board for UNESCO International Research Centre on AI, the AI and Philanthropy Steering Committee of the Partnership on AI, UKRAI, the Advisory Boards for international companies and non-profits such as SwissRE, EarthSpecies and Fathom.

She holds a visiting appointment at the University of Notre Dame and is an Executive Advisor to the Cantellus Group.

She is Ambassador for the OECD/IEEE Global Trust Challenge and Joint Head of AI at Doughty Street Chambers.

As the CEO of Good Tech Advisory Kay leads a team offering thought leadership, advice and support to companies to enable them to reap the benefits and mitigate the risks that AI brings to their enterprise.

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