As AI develops, the most important questions concern the data on which it is being trained. Where it comes from, who holds it, how it is governed, and who gains from it. Recent debate has focused on what happens when power and control predominantly rest with a small number of private sector companies.
Having recently given evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee, Sir Nigel Shadbolt, co-founder of the Open Data Institute, shared his thinking on what this moment means for the UK.
Speaker
Sir Nigel Shadbolt Executive Chair & Co-founder of the ODI
Sir Nigel Shadbolt is Executive Chair of the Open Data Institute, which he co-founded with Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 2012. He is one of the UK’s foremost computer scientists. Sir Nigel was one of the originators of the interdisciplinary field of web science and is a leading researcher in artificial intelligence. He is Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a visiting Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Southampton. In November 2025, Nigel was appointed as Chair of AI@Oxford Research at the University of Oxford.
In 2009, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, appointed him and Sir Tim Berners-Lee as Information Advisors to transform access to Public Sector Information. This work led to the data.gov.uk site that now provides a portal to tens of thousands of datasets. In 2010, he joined the UK government’s Public Sector Transparency Board, overseeing Open Data releases across the public sector. He continues to advise the Government in a number of roles and in 2025 he was appointed to the Council for Science and Technology, which advises the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on strategic science and technology policy issues that cut across the responsibilities of individual government departments.
In May 2024 he published ‘As If Human: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence’, co-written with Roger Hampson, which provides a new approach to the challenges surrounding AI.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow and former President of the British Computer Society. He was knighted in 2013 for ‘services to science and engineering’.
Emma Thwaites, Strategic Advisor in Global Policy and Corporate Affairs the ODI
Emma has spent more than a decade shaping how organisations talk about and work with data, advising boards, briefing ministers, and helping leadership teams navigate complex regulatory and reputational environments. She has authored policy papers and thought leadership on data governance, ethics, and innovation, and regularly speaks at and hosts events and podcasts with leaders across sectors, including energy, healthcare, and research. Her earlier career includes senior UK government communications roles and over a decade as a BBC journalist.
