Jacob Turner

Jacob Turner is a barrister, author, and international authority on the law and governance of artificial intelligence. Turner holds law degrees from Oxford University and Harvard and has worked in the Dispute Resolution department at Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP, as well as serving as a judicial assistant to Lord Mance at the UK Supreme Court. He is ranked as a Leading Junior by legal directories in eight areas: administrative law and human rights, artificial intelligence, aviation, commercial litigation, data protection, information technology, public international law, and sanctions.

Turner is the author of "Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence," published by Palgrave Macmillan. The book examines the unique challenges posed by artificial intelligence, including issues of responsibility, rights, and ethics in AI decision-making. Turner argues that addressing these challenges requires the development of new institutions and regulations at both cross-industry and international levels. A Chinese edition of "Robot Rules" was published by Renmin University Press. He is also a contributing author to "The Law of Artificial Intelligence" and co-author, with Lord Mance, of "Privy Council Practice," a practitioner guide to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

In his legal practice, Turner has handled significant AI-related cases, including acting as counsel for Dr. Thaler in the UK Supreme Court in Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, known as the "AI Inventor" case, and defending the first company investigated by the UK data protection regulator for alleged AI bias. He represented Uber and Ola Cabs drivers in a legal case in the Dutch Courts, challenging the use of AI in employment decisions, with a successful outcome in the Court of Appeal. Turner is also regularly instructed in commercial and sovereign matters, representing clients such as Venezuela, Libya, Argentina, and India.

Turner serves on the Attorney General's B Panels of Counsel for both Civil and Public International Law and has advised the UK Government on legal and policy issues related to artificial intelligence. He lectures on AI at universities and institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, NYU, and the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg, and teaches a course on the regulation of AI at Singapore Management University. Turner has delivered seminars to the Chinese Government and Military at the invitation of the United Nations and has spoken at UNESCO in Paris and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. His work is cited by regulators in public studies, including reports by the UK Government and the Law Society. Turner's research on AI governance has been covered in publications such as The Economist, Wired, The Spectator, The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, and Singapore Law Gazette. He is recognized as a Global Market Leader for AI by Chambers and Partners and was included in The Lawyer Hot 100.