Toby Walsh

Toby Walsh is Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales and Data61. He holds a B.A. from the University of Cambridge and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. He has been named by The Australian as one of the “rock stars” of Australia’s digital revolution.

Professor Walsh is a leading advocate for ensuring AI is developed and used to improve human lives, and has been a prominent voice in global discussions on autonomous weapons (“killer robots”), speaking at the UN, to heads of state, parliamentary bodies, corporate boards, and other international forums.

He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He is the recipient of the Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science, the Humboldt Prize, and the NSW Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Engineering and ICT. He has authored five books for general audiences on AI, including The Shortest History of AI and Faking It: Artificial Intelligence in a Human World, and is a frequent speaker at global events such as TEDx, CeBIT, and the World Knowledge Forum.