Kobi Leins

AIEI Board of Advisors; King's College London

Kobi Leins is a visiting senior research fellow at King's College London, an expert for Standards Australia providing technical advice to the International Standards Organisation on forthcoming AI Standards, a co-founder of IEEE's Responsible Innovation of AI and the Life Sciences, a non-resident fellow of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, and advisory board member of the Carnegie Artificial Intelligence and Equality Initiative (AIEI).

Leins was a senior research fellow in digital ethics in the Faculty of Engineeringand IT at the University of Melbourne.Leins has also been researching the existing laws relating to cyber in Australia.Phase I of the project has created a map of Australian laws that impact on cyber security and cyber resilience, to be made available via the Internet in a Wikipedia style page, in order to both a) enhance national and international understanding of Australian law in this area and b) to build a community of experts and practitioners in this area appraised of developments in adjacent cyber law. Phase II of the research will identify gaps in the existing law that require rectification or further regulation. Phase III of the research will develop a matrix for other countries to similarly map their legal capabilities and gaps in the law.

Leins has managed programs and teams in the areas of administrative law & justice, humanitarian law, human rights law, and disarmament with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In 2006, Leins worked with the International Service for Human Rights in New York to advocate for the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, after which she worked for the United Nations Secretariat. In 2005, she liaised with states, scientists, and stakeholders to raise awareness of, and compliance with, the Biological Weapons and Chemical Weapons Conventions. In 2004, Leins worked as a legal officer at the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva under the auspices of a Security Council Resolution analyzing and presenting claims for environmental damage following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991. Lein salso prepared a matrix for review of domestic compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which many states adopted.

Leins' Ph.D. with the University of Melbourne was on international law that regulates the use of nanomaterials in armed conflict.

Featured Work

JUN 5, 2023 Article

Are We Automating the Banality and Radicality of Evil?

Current iterations of AI are increasingly able to encourage subservience to a non-human master, telling potentially systematic untruths with emphatic confidence.

NOV 1, 2022 Podcast

AI for Information Accessibility: AI, Law, & Social Justice, with Judge Isabela Ferrari & Dr. Kobi Leins

In this episode of the "AI & Information Accessibility" podcast, host Ayushi Khemka discusses issues around AI, law and social justice with guests Isabela Ferrari, a ...

AUG 18, 2022 Article

Who Decides Who Decides What Conversations Are Allowed About Artificial Intelligence?

In the development, use, and purchasing of AI systems, it is important to ask questions about who holds power, what conversations we are—and are ...

JUN 15, 2022 Article

Deus ex machina or Diabolus ex machina?

"Whenever we see or hear something that resembles "deus ex machina," or an inexplicable use of technology that resolves itself too simply or easily, we ...

MAY 25, 2022 Podcast

New War Technologies & International Law: The Legal Limits to Weaponizing Nanomaterials, with Kobi Leins

In a fascinating podcast, Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Kobi Leins about her new book "New War Technologies and International Law: The Legal Limits ...

NOV 9, 2021 Article

Seven Myths of Using the Term “Human on the Loop”: “Just What Do You Think You Are Doing, Dave?”

As AI systems are being leveraged and scaled, frequently calls are made for, “meaningful human control” or “meaningful human interaction on the loop.” Originally an ...

OCT 29, 2021 Article

Mind Control to Major Tom: First State Regulates Use of Neurotechnologies

One of the last frontiers of science remains the human mind – but not for much longer.

DEC 21, 2020 Podcast

AI & Equality Initiative: Algorithmic Bias & the Ethical Implications

In this AI & Equality Initiative podcast, Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with three researchers working with the University of Melbourne's Centre for AI and Digital ...