Wendell Wallach

Wendell Wallach is one of the world’s leading voices on the ethics and governance of emerging technologies. For over a decade, he chaired the Technology and Ethics group at Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, where he guided interdisciplinary research on AI, robotics, and neuroscience. He’s also served as a Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, where he co-directed the Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative—an effort to ensure that AI development supports global justice, rights, and wellbeing. Wendell is the co-author of Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong, a foundational book that helped define the field of machine ethics. His follow-up, A Dangerous Master: How to Keep Technology From Slipping Beyond Our Control, offers a sharp warning about unchecked tech development and how society must govern high-risk systems. He’s also the editor of Routledge’s definitive essay series on the ethics of emerging technology and has advised numerous institutions including The Hastings Center, IEEE, the World Economic Forum, and NASA. A frequent speaker at the United Nations, global policy forums, and academic conferences, Wendell has earned recognition as a “godfather of AI ethics.” His work helps bridge the gap between abstract ethical debates and real-world decision-making. At the AI Safety Crisis Summit, he brings not only decades of thought leadership, but a practical, globally informed vision for how societies can align frontier AI with human values.