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Professor Brent Mittelstadt

Professor of Data Ethics and Policy and Director of Research, Oxford Internet Institute

Professor Brent Mittelstadt is a data ethicist specializing in AI ethics, algorithmic fairness and explainability, and technology law and policy. At Oxford he founded the Governance of Emerging Technologies research programme, which works across ethics, law and emerging information technologies. Professor Mittelstadt is the author of highly cited foundational works addressing the ethics of algorithms, AI and Big Data; truth and accuracy in large language models (LLMs); fairness, accountability and transparency in machine learning; data protection and non-discrimination law; group privacy; and ethical auditing of automated systems. His work in these areas has been implemented by researchers, policymakers and companies internationally, featuring in policy proposals and guidelines from the European Commission, European Parliament, United Nations and US White House, as well as products from Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

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About

Brent Mittelstadt is Professor of Data Ethics and Policy at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), where he also coordinates of the Governance of Emerging Technologies (GET) research group which works across ethics, law and emerging information technologies. He is a leading data ethicist and philosopher specializing in AI ethics, professional ethics and technology law and policy.  

Professor Mittelstadt is the author of highly cited works across topics including the ethics of algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data; fairness, accountability, and transparency in machine learning (ML); data protection and non-discrimination law; group privacy; ethical auditing of automated systems; digital epidemiology and public health ethics; and ethical design of personal health monitoring technologies.  

Across these areas he has contributed to several key policy analyses, technical fixes and ethical frameworks to address the most pressing risks of emerging data-intensive technologies. These include 

  1. legal analysis of the enforceability of a 'right to explanation' of automated decisions in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR);
  2. the development of a method and ethical requirements for providing 'meaningful explanations' of automated decisions in the form of ‘counterfactual explanations’;
  3. a novel, legally compliant fairness metric to detect bias in AI and machine learning systems (‘Conditional Demographic Disparity’);
  4. a classification scheme for fairness metrics based on non-discrimination law;
  5. legal analysis of the duties of AI providers to create large language models (LLMs) that 'tell the truth', building on a new proposed conceptual harm called 'careless speech'; and
  6. an empirical survey and policy audit of open-access deepfake models to generate non-consensual intimate imagery. 

These contributions are widely cited and have been implemented by researchers, policy-makers and industrial bodies internationally, featuring in policy proposals and guidelines from the UK government, Ofcom, the Information Commissioner’s Office and European Commission, as well as products from Google, Amazon and Microsoft.  

Professor Mittelstadt is the recipient of several prestigious awards recognising the impact of his work on scholarship, policy and society. In 2018 and 2021 he received O2RB Excellence in Impact Awards for his work on explanations in AI, counterfactual explanations and AI fairness and bias in non-discrimination law. In 2019, he was delighted to receive the best paper award at the Privacy Law Scholars Conference (PLSC) for his work on the ‘right to reasonable inferences’ in data protection law.  

Professor Mittelstadt has substantial experience in leading and coordinating multi-disciplinary work across large-scale, multi-partner projects. His work has been funded by a variety of fellowships including a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship as well as research grants from funders such as the Wellcome Trust, Department of Health and Social Care, Sloan Foundation, Miami Foundation and Luminate Group. ess and bias in non-discrimination law. In 2019 he was delighted to receive the best paper award at the Privacy Law Scholars Conference for his work on the ‘right to reasonable inferences’ in data protection law.

Expertise

  • Data ethics
  • Artificial intelligence (AI)
  • Professional ethics
  • Data protection law
  • Privacy
  • Non-discrimination law
  • Medical ethics
  • Internet of Things

Selected publications

Media experience

Professor Brent Mittelstadt's work has received extensive media coverage (100+ articles) in national and international outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Science, Nature, Forbes, New Scientist, Wired, Politico, Sky News, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, Engadget and The Huffington Post where he has been interviewed about his research and supplied quotes and commentary on newly published research. He has also appeared on both BBC World News and Sky News as well as making radio and podcast appearances.

Recent media work

Languages

English
Do Large Language Models have a Duty to Tell the Truth?