Nell Watson
President, European Responsible AI Office (EURAIO); chair of IEEE 3152; author of Safer Agentic AI
Engineer turned AI ethicist
Nell Watson describes herself as an engineer, ethicist and standards architect[1]. Her work covers machine learning engineering, international standards, government advice and books on AI ethics[1]. She has completed doctoral research in engineering and is awaiting her viva, the final oral examination[1].
In 2011 she founded Poikos, later QuantaCorp, on patented machine-vision technology[2]. The technology measures a body in 3D from two photos, one from the front and one from the side, taken with an ordinary 2D camera[2]. It was used for personalisation in health, mass customisation and retail, and the company was sold to BodiData[2].
Her current focus areas include agentic AI safety architectures, constitutional AI and runtime alignment, and diagnostics for AI behavioural dysfunction[1]. She also works on psychosecurity and defences against influence[1].
Standards for transparent AI
Watson chairs the IEEE working group behind IEEE 3152-2024, the standard for Transparent Human and Machine Agency Identification[3][4]. The standard was approved in December 2024 and published in May 2025[3]. It sets out how to mark whether someone is dealing with a person, a machine or something in between[3].
She is also Vice-Chair of IEEE 7001-2021, which grades how well an autonomous system can explain itself to different audiences[1][3]. She chairs the Transparency Experts Focus Group for IEEE CertifAIEd, a programme that turns ethics criteria into a mark an organisation can earn[1][3]. She also chaired IEEE 3173-2026, a hazard label for endocrine-disrupting chemicals[1].
Watson is President of the European Responsible AI Office (EURAIO), which advises companies and governments on responsible AI governance[1]. She is a funding advisor to the Survival & Flourishing Fund, which supports grantmaking for AI safety[1]. She founded EthicsNet, a nonprofit that builds open alignment infrastructure, and chairs it[1].
Books on taming and securing agents
Kogan Page published her book Taming the Machine: Ethically harness the power of AI in 2024[5]. It is a field guide for people who must live and work beside intelligent systems, and it asks what to delegate and what to keep[5].
In 2026 Kogan Page published Safer Agentic AI: Principles and responsible practices, which she wrote with Prof. Ali Hessami[5]. The book sets out the habits, guardrails and institutional practices that let autonomous systems earn trust[5]. Her site quotes a line from it: "Agency demands accountability, no matter the substrate."[6]
She has turned the book's criteria into software[2]. The Safer Agentic AI suite includes an Auto-Assessor that checks an agent's behaviour against safety criteria[2]. Another of her open-source projects, METTLE, works like a CAPTCHA in reverse[2]. Before an AI agent is trusted to act, METTLE asks the agent to prove that it is a machine[2].
Speaking and briefings
In February 2025 she presented a paper titled Beyond Compute: A Weighted Framework for AI Capability Governance at ICAART 2025 in Porto[7]. In 2025 she also gave Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, a private briefing on agentic AI[7].
Earlier talks include one on agentic AI safety at AI Con 2024 in Belfast and a lightning talk at Sci Foo Camp 2024 in Cambridge[7]. Her press page counts 202 articles, interviews and broadcasts, from Al Jazeera and the BBC World Service to podcasts and trade magazines[8].
Her site sums up her approach in one line: "I build things, then worry professionally about what happens when they get loose."[1]
Known for
- Chair of the IEEE 3152 standard on human and machine agency identification
- Author of Taming the Machine (2024) and Safer Agentic AI (2026)
- President of the European Responsible AI Office
- Founder of QuantaCorp and EthicsNet
Sources
- Nell Watson: About — checked 8 Nov 2026
- Nell Watson: Projects — checked 8 Nov 2026
- Nell Watson: Standards — checked 8 Nov 2026
- IEEE Standards Association: IEEE 3152-2024 (working group chair Eleanor Watson) — checked 8 Nov 2026
- Nell Watson: Books — checked 8 Nov 2026
- Nell Watson: Quotes — checked 8 Nov 2026
- Nell Watson: Now (updated July 2026) — checked 8 Nov 2026
- Nell Watson: Press — checked 8 Nov 2026