Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem is a philosopher of science and technology, an AI ethics policy adviser, and a machine ethics researcher. She is the Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pretoria, the AI ethics lead at the Centre for AI Research (CAIR), and the chair of the Southern African Conference on AI Research (SACAIR).
She was the Chairperson of the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group that prepared the draft of the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and currently assists with implementing the Recommendation. She is the rapporteur for the UNESCO Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST).
Emma is a member of the African Union Development Agency Consultative Roundtable on Ethics in Africa and of the African Commission Human and People’s Rights Committee (ACHPR) task team working on the Resolution 473 study on Human and Peoples’ Rights and AI, Robotics and other New and Emerging Technologies in Africa. She is a member of the Global Academic Network at the Center for AI and Digital Policy, Washington DC and a participant in the Design Justice AIA Global Humanities Institute. She sits on various international AI ethics advisory boards and consults widely in the private sector.
