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Gaia Marcus

@gaiamarcus.bsky.social
11K followers 2.7K following 254 posts

- Director @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social:ensuring data & AI work for ppl & society - Stint in government - led #NationalDataStrategy; roles in Cabinet Office, ONS & MHCLG - Charity roles inc. Samaritans Trustee; staff @ The RSA, Centrepoint, ParkinsonsUK

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Reposted by Gaia Marcus
Ada Lovelace Institute @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Amidst viral claims and predictions about superintelligence this week, our Associate Director Marta Ziosi spoke to Ben Thompson at BBC News and Andrew Marr at LBC to cut through the hype and provide much-needed clarity on the risks we should be paying attention to, and what we can do about them:
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Ada Lovelace Institute @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
We are delighted to announce that Associate Directors Imogen Parker and Michael Birtwistle have been appointed as Co-Directors of the Ada Lovelace Institute to cover Director Gaia Marcus’ maternity leave, stepping in from late November 2026–July 2027. www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/news/co-dire...
adalovelaceinstitute.org
Imogen Parker and Michael Birtwistle appointed as Co-Directors to cover Gaia Marcus’ maternity leave
Associate Directors Imogen Parker and Michael Birtwistle will step in as Co-Directors to cover Gaia Marcus' maternity leave.
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AI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Today, we’re launching Anatomy of an AI Kill Chain with @airwars.bsky.social. AI is rapidly reshaping warfare. This project breaks down how AI is transforming every aspect of war and how militaries are offloading life and death decisions to brittle and flawed technologies: ai-killchain.airwars.org
ai-killchain.airwars.org
Interactive: Anatomy Of An AI Kill Chain
Breaking down how militaries are offloading life and death decisions to flawed technologies
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Depends on your definition. TUC and UNISON had reps on commission. Evidence included direct deliberation w/ Londoners, YP roundtable and engagement with orgs that I would assume wld define themselves as grassroots - list is here pp 28-31 www.london.gov.uk/sites/defaul...
london.gov.uk
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
5/6 The @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social has long called for attention to societal impacts — and the agency we have to act when needed. I really hope this focus on early warning and early action is reflected in the new kCabinet Office / No.10 AI Taskforce, reporting to AI Minister Kanishka Narayan
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
4/6 The taskforce recommends 3 interventions: • London AI Early Action System — decisions rest on the best possible information • AI at Work Partnership — employers, workers and educators planning for future together • Create Opportunity & the London Future Ready Guarantee — new routes into work
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
3/6 Any taskforce is a mediated, negotiated outcome. But I'm proud of the work, deliberation and evidence behind this one — based on a clear premise: the future of work will be shaped by the decisions we make today. "AI" alone will not determine whether opportunity expands or inequality deepens.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
🧵2/6 With colleagues from across London's ecosystems — business, entrepreneurs, academia, CSOs, trade unions — and our indefatigable chair Martha Lane Fox, I really appreciated our focus on action, evidence, people, trust, and what can be done now with the levers London already has.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Here's one we made earlier!" In all the news and late-night reshuffles, you'd be forgiven for missing that an AI Taskforce has already dropped… The London AI and Jobs Taskforce published its recommendations today after an epic three-month sprint. www.london.gov.uk/programmes-s...
london.gov.uk
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Ada Lovelace Institute @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
In a new blog post, @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social and Ada's @octavia-fr.bsky.social emphasise the importance of ongoing public legitimacy for digital IDs - and the role of good governance, clear redress mechanisms and meaningful public participation. www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/blog/buildin...
adalovelaceinstitute.org
Building public legitimacy for digital ID in the UK
The digital ID consultation must signal the beginning for participatory public input rather than the end
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Digital Futures Institute @ King's College London @kings-dfi.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
📣 Tomorrow: Join @aiatkings.bsky.social for a conversation with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, on trust and knowledge in the age of GenAI. Featuring @giotita.bsky.social, @elenasimperl.bsky.social, @jamesomalley.co.uk and @gaiamarcus.bsky.social. Last few tickets left 🔽
kcl.ac.uk
Trust and Knowledge in the Age of GenAI: A Conversation with Jimmy Wales | King's College London
A conversation with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia.org, on trust and knowledge.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I find a lot of discourse on AI and Tech Sovereignty to be very... Circular. Great stuff from @chionwurah.bsky.social
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
.@chionwurah.bsky.social on need for coherence on tech 'sovreignty'. "We need to understand what we can own, control, & lead by ourselves; what we can access that is in the hands of allies we trust; & how we manage what we must obtain from those we do not trust" giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
ft.com
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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Bloody hell. Researchers invented a disease, published two fake papers to see if LLM’s would ingest them and kick them up as fact — and then it broke containment and all the major AI’s bought in. Information pollution. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real
Bixonimania doesn’t exist except in a clutch of obviously bogus academic papers. So why did AI chatbots warn people about this fictional illness?
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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Deeply grateful to the UK AI and Robotics research community for this Leadership Award. So many wonderful researchers were honoured with me tonight - my own award would not be possible without my amazing @braiduk.bsky.social @technomoralfutures.bsky.social @edfuturesinstitute.bsky.social colleagues
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Very thoroughly earned vallor (!) - @shannonvallor.bsky.social given the Ai & Robotics Research Leadership Award!
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Fabulous to hear from @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social board member @shannonvallor.bsky.social at tonight's Responsible AI Robotics and AI awards - I'm always so inspired by her morally crisp and targeted calls for AI that centres people, augmenting our agency and thinking, rather than supplanting it
Shannon Vallor's talk - ' The machine starts: taking stock of the AI and Robotics revolution 'It's a play on E.M. Forster's  The Machine Stops
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“THE MACHINE IS MUCH, BUT NOT EVERYTHING."

Shannon's call: WE NEED NEW AND BETTER AI/R STORIES:

Stories about Al and robots beyond GenAl chatbots and agents

Stories about humans using their own brains more with Al

Stories about Al and robots that tread lightly on our lives and minds

Stories about Al and robots that help mend social ties & trust

Stories about Al and robots that repair parts of our world & institutions

Stories about Al/R researchers and builders who ask and listen

Stories about people enabled to choose the kind of Al/R they want
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
TIL what the Acela is :) And yes - very much agree!
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
I yet again would like to propose that we all carry (privacy preserving, on device, non data retaining) decible monitors on our person. Especially when conducting - often sensitive - business meetings in open plan and public places.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
This sounds fun!
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
🧵 I recently spoke with Taylor Owen @theglobeandmail.com Machines Like Us podcast about an urgent question: How do you make a technology safe when the political will to govern it has evaporated? And what happens if we don't? www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/mac...
theglobeandmail.com
When did common sense AI policy become radical?
How do you make a technology safe when nobody seems particularly interested in regulating it – and what might happen if we don’t?
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Modi offers his MANAV (or human) Vision for AI @ #AIImpactSummit M: moral and ethical AI systems A: accountable AI governance N: national AI + data sovereignty A: accessible and inclusive AI V: AI should be valid and verifiable What these principles mean in practice in India remains to be seen.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
So excited about our new board appointments.l: Ed Humpherson, @mmitchell.bsky.social and @geomblog.bsky.social With expertise ranging across AI research, computer science and public statistics, they are Ada values aligned w a shared focus on the public interest, accountability, fairness and rigour
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Governments regulate AI and deploy it across public uses. This AI Policy & Governance Working Group panel @ #AIImpactSummit examines accountability, procurement and safety when the state is both regulator and user. @gaiamarcus.bsky.social @ruchowdh.bsky.social @futureoflife.org impact.indiaai.gov.in
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
For people who care about that sort of thing, the membership of the National Data Library Expert Advisory Group has been published today - including me www.gov.uk/government/g...
gov.uk
National Data Library Expert Advisory Group
Information about the National Data Library (NDL) Expert Advisory Group including its role and members.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
You were very good and balanced, I thought
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Listenng to BBCTodayProgramme - grt to hear thoughtful discussion frm parents on consequences & pitfalls of social media ban - & why we should be worried about adults screen time, too (or maybe more). Very live to the qstn of where are YP supposed to be going now, w reduction of third spaces fr thm
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 21/01/2026
if you’re passionate about AI accountability research and enjoy working in a vibrant lab with a multi-disciplinary team but not interested in doing traditional academic work, this position might be for you
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
I can choose my bank, I can choose my online supermarket, I can pick where I buy books and clothes and watch TV. I cannot choose whether or not to interact with the state, it is not the same as going shopping.
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
"One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation."
science.org
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
In a new commentary in Science that I think I'll be referencing a lot on Tech Policy Press, Alondra Nelson (@alondra.bsky.social) says while the Trump's approach to AI is widely understood as "deregulation," when you zoom out, that's not really what's going on. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The Trump administration is engaged in norm destruction—breaking expectations about transparent governance and public oversight while installing new assumptions about how technological development should be directed. What it has advanced is not the absence of AI regulation but its rearrangement, often by caprice: intensive state intervention operating through industrial policy, trade restrictions, immigration controls, equity stakes in private firms (selected by the state), the redirection of research funding, and the strategic preemption of state authority. Many of these actions face legal challenge, and some may not survive judicial review. But the pattern itself—the systematic preference for executive discretion over deliberative process—reveals an approach to governance that will shape AI policy regardless of how individual cases are decided. This is not deregulation. Not in the least. It is hyper-regulation by other means.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 15/01/2026
are you displeased with today’s AI safety evaluation landscape and curious about what greater conceptual clarity, methodological soundness, and rigour in AI evaluation could look like? if so, consider coming to Dublin to pursue a PhD with me apply here: aial.ie/hiring/phd-a... pls repost
About the PhD: 
Audits and evaluation of AI systems — and the broader context that AI systems operate in — have become central to conceptualising, quantifying, measuring and understanding the operations, failures, limitations, underlying assumptions, and downstream societal implications of AI systems. Existing AI audit and evaluation efforts are fractured, done in a siloed and ad-hoc manner, and with little deliberation and reflection around conceptual rigour and methodological validity.

This PhD is for a candidate that is passionate about exploring what a conceptually cogent, methodologically sound, and well-founded AI evaluation and safety research might look like. This requires grappling with questions such as:

    What does it mean to represent “ground truth” in proxies, synthetic data, or computational simulation?
    How do we reliably measure abstract and complex phenomena?
    What are the epistemological or methodological implications of quantification and measurement approaches we choose to employ? Particularly, what underlying presuppositions, values, or perspectives do they entail?
    How do we ensure the lived experiences of impacted communities play a critical role in the development and justification of measurement metrics and proxies?
    Through exploration of these questions, the candidate is expected to engage with core concepts in the philosophy of science, history of science, Black feminist epistemologies, and similar schools of thought to develop an in-depth understanding of existing practices with the aim of applying it to advance shared standards and best practice in AI evaluation.

The candidate is expected to integrate empirical (for example, through analysis or evaluation of existing benchmarks) or practical (for example, by executing evaluation of AI systems) components into the overall work.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
...safeguards, to the decision to not have regulation that covers or partially covers entirely predictable harms.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
I'd agree, but I'd say this is always the case. AIl technologies are a result of a series of decisions a series of people have made. In this case everything from the data models were trained on, to the capabilities that were prioritised, to (presumably?) fine-tuning, to releasing a tool without ..
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
I'd file having appropriate regulation and governance under "our ability to manage the risks" - regulation is essentially one of the tools for ensuring that those able to manage risks are held to do so. But 100% agree these aren't risks that can't be managed, they just aren't being.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Impossibile on which axes? As in technically or politically or both?
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
🏆 This is a pivotal opportunity for the UK government to distinguish itself as a leader in effective AI governance, and build a regulatory system that prevents harms before they happen. 📖 Learn more about our polling on AI regulation here: Great (public) expectations | share.google/WlX20c8lmYRD...
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
📢 This isn’t an unpopular idea: nearly 9 in 10 people in the UK want independent AI regulation. Yet the current oversight of AI falls far behind that of other sectors (like aviation, pharmaceuticals and financial services), with no clear plans for improvement.
Stat picture card - 89% of the UK public say it is important to regulate AI independently
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
⚖️ We cannot stay ahead of these harms without robust AI regulation. Currently, we are chasing after individual tragedies and scandals, attempting to plug the gaps with existing laws and regulation (image). This isn’t enough: we need to manage harms at the source, and not just manage the symptoms.
Ada graph of sector regulation which shows how absent AI regulation is, compared to a range of other sectors

Compared to the following:


Aviation

Financial Services

Pharma

Food Safety



Foundation models/general-purpose Al lack regulation lack real coverage beyond voluntary standards across:

Proactive risk monitoring

Safety standards

Independent standards
Market entry authorisation

Post-market monitoring


Independent regulator


Enforcement powers

Accountability measures

Transparency/reporting requirements
Routes for redress
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
🤔Are these the AI futures you were hoping for?! At Ada towers we've been doing a lot of reflecting on the recent Grok scandal. It shows what happens when AI capabilities outpace our ability to manage their risks, & when people and societal impacts aren't front of mind for those developing tech. 🧵
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
🚂🚂Mind the gap?! The public has (great!) expectations...and doesn't think AI should be seen as being A-Exceptional.🚂🚂 Our nat repr polling shows a growing divide between public expectations and discomfort w the status quo, and govt's lack lack of action lnkd.in/e638XGXU 🧵
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
If you're new here and happen to see this, here's a Critical Tech starter pack, full of interesting folk to follow go.bsky.app/VFxSES6 And if you have a small account (<10k followers) and would like to be added for visibility, let me know! (Although response times may be slow)
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Ada Lovelace Institute @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
In our last blog for 2025, @gaiamarcus.bsky.social reflects on whether the 'AI train' is on the right track: www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/blog/mind-th...
adalovelaceinstitute.org
Mind the gap: reflections on 2025
Is the ‘AI train’ on the right track?
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
I was unbelievably lucky to have thoughtful, respectful and skilled staff who talked me through options, understood my concerns and personal risk factors, and spoke to me of numbers, evidence and different treatment options. We need public discussion to be similarly nuanced.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
...was a far better option than being given a 70% odds of further intervention (likely: forceps/ventose and/or an emergency C section) if I proceeded to 'full' induction
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Anectdata as I can't find a reference- but via someone who worked for the UK's Evaluation Taskforce, so likely true- my understanding is that only 1/10 first births in the UK are 'without intervention'. In my case, a semi-elective C-section after three days of failed induction...
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
It is incredibly infuriating to hear caesarian birth being positioned as the other option to a 'straightforward' birth. Very very few people are having the latter, especially for first births.
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Laurence D @laurencediver.net · 05/12/2025
"The current lack of oversight departs from established norms: regulatory mechanisms that are standard in other high-impact domains remain largely absent in AI governance" New study on public attitudes to AI regulation, from the Ada Lovelace Institute: www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/policy-brief...
adalovelaceinstitute.org
Great (public) expectations
New polling shows the public expect AI to be governed with far more rigour than current policy delivers
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
AI chatbots are already causing real harm, yet UK law offers almost no meaningful protection. New analysis from Ada Lovelace Institute shows existing regulations don’t cover the risks posed by Advanced AI Assistants, writes Julia Smakman.
techpolicy.press
UK Laws Do Not Provide Effective Protection From Chatbot Harms | TechPolicy.Press
Julia Smakman explores how the UK is falling behind on laws and policies needed to protect people from the growing risks of AI chatbots and advanced assistants.
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Gaia Marcus @gaiamarcus.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Thanks Jack!
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