Verity Harding

One of TIME100’s Most Influential People in AI, Verity Harding has worked at the cutting edge of AI for longer than most. She is Founder of the AI consultancy Formation Advisory Ltd and Director of the AI & Geopolitics Project at the University of Cambridge. Her debut book AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI’s Future and Save Our Own, was featured in the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Economist, and named as one of McKinsey’s Best Books of 2024.

Harding was Google DeepMind's first Global Head of Public Policy from 2016, where she co-founded the company's research and ethics unit as well as the independent multi-stakeholder organisation the Partnership on AI, and served as a member of the OECD's Network of AI Experts. Prior to joining DeepMind, Harding was Head of Security Policy for Google in Europe, covering issues such as online extremism and encryption. Before her career in tech, Harding served as a Special Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and recently advised the government as a member of the Cabinet Office Digital Advisory Board, a group of independent experts recruited to provide insight on digital, data, and technology to the UK Government. TIME magazine says: "Few people understand the intersection between emerging technology and democracy better than Verity Harding."