Professor Carissa Véliz
About
Carissa Véliz is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI, where she researches privacy, the ethics of AI, business ethics and public policy.
She is the recipient of the 2021 Herbert A. Simon Award for Outstanding Research in Computing and Philosophy. In 2023, she received the Committed Optimists Award for work that transforms the world into a better place; previous award winners include the Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Noam Chomsky.
Professor Véliz is the author of the highly-acclaimed Privacy Is Power (published by Penguin Random House and an Economist book of the year, 2020) and The Ethics of Privacy and Surveillance (OUP, 2024) and is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics.
She is a member of UNESCO’s Women 4 Ethical AI, and part of the Advisory Board at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. She is a board member of the Proton Foundation, along with Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Proton’s CEO Andy Yen.
Professor Véliz advises policymakers around the world on privacy and the ethics of AI, including the UK Parliament, the US Congress and the European Commission. Professor Véliz works as a consultant for companies, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Expertise
- Privacy, surveillance, and cybersecurity
- Ethics of AI and big data
- Ethics of generative AI
- Governance of emerging technologies
- Algorithms and social media, free speech, fake news and deep fakes
- What AI ethics can learn from medical ethics
Selected publications
- Privacy is Power: Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data (2021)
- The Ethics of Privacy and Surveillance (2024)
- Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics (2024)
- Chatbots shouldn’t use emojis (2023)
- Moral zombies: why algorithms are not moral agents (2021)
- Online Masquerade: Redesigning the Internet for Free Speech Through the Use of Pseudonyms (2019)
- Three things digital ethics can learn from medical ethics (2019)
- Protecting data privacy is key to a smart energy future (2018)
Media experience
Professor Carissa Véliz's work has received extensive media coverage (300+ pieces) in renowned outlets across print, radio and video including TIME, Wired, Slate, The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC, The Telegraph, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, CBC, Washington Post, Nature, New Scientist, El País, El Mundo and La Vanguardia among others. She is an experienced keynote speaker; she has given talks at TEDx event, Mobile World Capital and numerous tech and corporate summits.
Recent media work
- Agatha Christie, Who Died in 1976, Will See You in Class (The New York Times, 2025)
- Reddit Users Were Subjected to AI-Powered Experiment Without Consent (New Scientist, 2025)
- Genetic data is worth more than warm spit (Financial Times, 2024)
- DNA firm holding highly sensitive data 'vanishes' without warning (BBC News, 2024)
- Carissa Véliz, philosopher: ‘If you want to have a good party, ask your friends not to take photos’ (EL PAÍS, 2024)
- What Socrates Can Teach Us About AI (Time, 2023)
Languages
English, Spanish