Sam Daws

Sam Daws is Senior Advisor to the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, and the founding director of Multilateral AI. He has worked for 35 years in multilateral diplomacy and science policy. He served as First Officer to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, and advised the British Prime Minister on the SDGs as Deputy Director (UN) in the Cabinet Office. He previously served as Senior Principal Research Analyst (Multilateral) in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Executive Director of UNA-UK, and UK Representative to the UN Foundation.

He is a recognised expert in multilateral strategy, technology policy, sustainability, and peace and security. With a background in social anthropology, international relations, mediation and law, his work at Oxford focusses on the geopolitical, environmental and cultural dimensions of AI governance and policy coordination.

He has authored or co-edited 14 books including The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations.  He is an alumnus of the Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme and serves as an industry advisor to Oxford’s Saïd Business School.  He also designed the inaugural digital UN training for the FCO’s diplomatic academy and has been invited to speak to foreign ministries and universities on multilateral diplomacy and AI governance worldwide, from Beijing to Brasilia, and Nairobi to New Delhi.