Susie Alegre Keynote Speaker

International human rights lawyer.
Author of 'Freedom to Think' (2022), which was named an FT Book of the Year 2022 and shortlisted for The RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2023.
Senior Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).

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Susie Alegre's Biography

Dr. Susie Alegre is an international human rights lawyer, author and keynote speaker with over 25 years’ experience working on human rights and accountability around the world. Her recent work has focused on the impact of technology and the digital world on human rights and our freedom to think for ourselves.

She is the author of “Human Rights, Robot Wrongs” (Atlantic Books, 2024) in which she explores the impact AI may have on our fundamental human rights, and the ethical dilemmas of emerging technologies. Her previous book “Freedom to Think” (Atlantic Books 2022) received widespread recognition, and was named a Financial Times Technology Book of the Year 2022, a Telegraph New Science Book of the Year 2022 and shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize 2023.

Susie is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). She is also the Founder and Director of the Island Rights Initiative.

Susie has worked for international organisations including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe as an adviser on human rights and counter-terrorism and the European Union on combating corruption in East Africa. And she has advised civil society organisations including Amnesty International, JUSTICE, Avaaz and SumOfUs and 5Rights on human rights, international law and the development of law and policy around emerging technologies. As well as her advisory work, she has worked as an ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service, as Interception of Communications Commissioner for the Isle of Man and hold senior judicial and oversight positions at national and international levels.

She is a regular contributor to print and broadcast media including TIME Magazine, City AM, The Irish Times, Sydney Morning Herald, BBC Radio 4 and Sky News.

With a MA Hons in French and Philosophy and a Masters and PhD in International Human Rights Law, Susie brings personal, philosophical and literary perspectives to her analysis of law, technology and human freedom. She is comfortable speaking in English, French and Spanish.

Re-imagining freedom of thought in the Digital Age:

As our devices are increasingly an extension of who we are, how we form our opinions, decide who to vote for and who to love, how can we protect our right to freedom of thought in the digital age?

“To the Past, to the Future, to a Time when thought is free...” Thinking Beyond Orwell’s Thought Police:

As we struggle to navigate our way through the implications of AI and emerging technology, 75 years on from the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, what lessons can we learn from the past to guide our future relationship with technology and with each other?

Finding the freedom to think about a human future in the age of technology:

Technology is increasingly encroaching on our inner lives and our autonomy – how do we manage our technological future while protecting what it means to be human.

Regulating around inner freedom.

As regulators around the world scrabble to keep up with the exponential development of emerging tech and AI, how might law and regulation develop to guarantee our inner freedom for the future.

The Long View of AI Ethics

AI and emerging technologies may pose new ethical challenges, but we don’t need new ethics to address them – what can we learn from the history of philosophy and human rights to plot our technological future.