Drew Hemment

Background

About Drew Hemment

Professor Drew Hemment holds a distinctive and generative position at the intersection of artistic practice, emerging technology, and critical research. As Theme Lead in Interpretive Technologies for Sustainability at The Alan Turing Institute and Professor of Data Arts and Society at the University of Edinburgh, his work pioneers new approaches to the most pressing challenges in artificial intelligence. He leads Doing AI Differently, an international initiative that reimagines AI development through humanities perspectives to address urgent societal and planetary challenges. This work, and his role in pioneering Experiential AI, enables breakthrough advances by designing AI systems that enhance, rather than replace, human interpretive capacities. Hemment's approach is grounded in an anticipatory research methodology, a rigorous way of shaping technological futures. He has applied and refined this method across successive technological transitions, including electronic arts, locative media, open data, the internet of things and interpretive technologies. In 1995, he founded FutureEverything, which was named by The Guardian as one of the top ten ideas festivals in the world. He also founded the GROW Observatory in 2016, the world's first continental-scale citizens' observatory. A Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and a member of the Editorial Board at Leonardo, Hemment is a frequent public speaker and media presence. He has been an expert witness on AI for BBC's Moral Maze and a film critic for BBC Radio Scotland's Afternoon Show. His work has been recognized with 14 international awards, including the PIEoneer Award 2020 Digital Innovation Learning (Winner), Soil Award 2019 (Winner), STARTS Prize 2018 (Honorary Mention), Lever Prize 2010 (Winner), Prix Ars Electronica 2008 (Honorary Mention). @toodrew