Sam Daws

Sam Daws

Sam Daws is Senior Advisor to the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, Oxford University, and Founding Director of Multilateral AI. He has served for 40 years in senior multilateral roles, including as First Officer to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, and advising the British Prime Minister on the creation of the UN SDGs as Deputy Director (UN) in the Cabinet Office. He previously served as Senior Principal Research Analyst (Multilateral) in the FCO, Executive Director of UNA-UK, and UK Representative to the UN Foundation.

Mr Daws is a recognised international expert in multilateral strategy, geopolitics and tech governance, and author of 14 books including The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations. An alumnus of the Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme, and industry advisor to Oxford’s Saïd Business School, he also serves as a senior Oxford China Centre Associate, and policy lead for the University’s UN Academic Impact SDG16 hub. His academic background encompasses social anthropology, international law and relations, and science-diplomacy. His policy focus is on AI’s peace and security, sovereignty, sustainable development, and intercultural/language implications, and his regional interests include China-West policy interoperability and trust building in UN and minilateral AI governance processes, and AI developments in the Gulf States, Central Asia and ASEAN