Ada Lovelace Institute

The Ada Lovelace Institute is an independent research institute established in 2018 by the Nuffield Foundation in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute, the Royal Society, the British Academy, the Royal Statistical Society, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Wellcome Trust, techUK, and Luminate. The Nuffield Foundation committed £5 million over five years to launch the institute, which is named after Ada Lovelace, the 19th-century mathematician widely recognized as an early computer scientist.

Based in London, the institute's mission is to ensure that data and AI work for people and society, with equitable distribution of the opportunities and benefits generated by these technologies. The institute focuses not on what technologies to build, but on what kinds of societies to build, aiming to ensure that the transformative power of data and AI is used in ways that maximize social wellbeing and put technology at the service of humanity.

The institute organizes its work across four interconnected practice areas: Emerging Technology and Industry Practice, which focuses on equitable benefit distribution and harm prevention; Law and Policy, which interrogates how existing and emerging AI and data regulation meets the needs of people and society; Public Participation and Research, which ensures affected communities' voices shape evidence and policy; and Social and Economic Policy, which addresses how political choices and public services will be designed in the information age.

Since its founding, the Ada Lovelace Institute has grown to approximately 30 staff members. It has influenced the EU AI Act, briefed UK Parliament on data and frontier model regulation, engaged with global AI safety summits including Bletchley Park, and published influential research on topics including foundation model evaluations, AI in public services, AI liability, and public attitudes toward AI. The institute is funded by the Nuffield Foundation as its primary funder, with additional support from Luminate, the MacArthur Foundation, Minderoo, the Network of European Foundations (European AI Fund), Omidyar Network, and Open Societies Foundation.

The current Director is Gaia Marcus, appointed in June 2024. Previous directors include Carly Kind (2019-2024). Dame Julie Maxton chairs the Oversight Board. The institute's 2025-28 strategy commits to calling for AI to meet standards comparable to food, medicine, and aviation sectors; building evidence on real-world AI impacts; advocating for independent evaluation, audit, and assurance; and centering the perspectives of diverse publics.