Dr Laura Gilbert CBE

Laura works on the practical use of AI and evidence in government: helping leaders make better decisions, building technology that makes public services more human rather than less, and championing open, sovereign approaches that put the public interest first. She has spent her career moving between science, industry and the heart of government, and cares most about turning good evidence into real delivery.

Run of the mill beardy physicist. DPhil Oxon, MA/BSc Cantab, FInstP, CPhys, FIoA.

"Knowledgeable and a bit cantankerous"

David Halpern

"Will grow up to become the dictator of a small island"

Phoebe Woolam

"Excellent, clear, authoritative"

Lord Chris Holmes

"Gorgeous, but far less informative than a map would have been"

Tim Harford (To be fair, this one was not about me.)

From April 2025 to September 2026 Laura was Senior Director of AI and Head of the AI for Government programme at the Tony Blair Institute, advising dozens of governments worldwide on AI and building AI tools to support better government decision making with the best interests of the public at its heart. Her programme delivered AI solutions to improve the ability of governments to plan and deliver resilient public services and generate better economic and wellbeing outcomes for their citizens.

From September 2020 to January 2025 Laura worked in 10 Downing Street as the founding director of 10DS, the data science and analytics team, and the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI). These high-performance teams successfully provided ground-breaking, fast-paced modelling and analysis to support policy making and delivery, and delivered expert data and AI solutions into public services.

Laura holds a doctorate in Particle Physics and Computing from Oxford University and undergraduate degrees from Cambridge University, and is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. She has previously worked in defence intelligence and quantitative finance, and for nearly a decade was founder and CTO of a medical technologies company, Rescon, bringing it from startup to SME to acquisition before exiting and joining government in 2020. She was awarded a CBE for Services to Technology and Analysis in the 2024 New Year Honours.

She lives in Hampshire with her three children and a wide and varying range of unusual pets. She enjoys playing the piano, oboe and harp, repeatedly attempting and largely failing to learn Arabic to a workable level, and Savate kickboxing, in which she has competed for Britain seven times and coaches. She is a qualified firebreather.

Laura advises governments, boards and organisations on the practical use of AI: what to build, what to buy, what to avoid, and how to tell the difference. Current appointments and previous roles are listed below.

Now

Independent adviser, consultant and speaker on AI, data science and government

Most recent

Senior Director of AI, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, April 2025 to September 2026, leading the AI for Government programme and the AI Innovation Lab

Academic

Visiting Professor in Practice, LSE School of Public Policy; Visiting Fellow in AI, Hertford College, Oxford

Government

Founding Director of 10DS and the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI), 10 Downing Street and Cabinet Office, 2020 to 2024; Director of Analysis for the UK intelligence agencies, 2022 to 2024; joint Chief Analyst, Cabinet Office; Director of the Evaluation Taskforce; joint Chair of Departmental Directors of Analysis

Industry

Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, Rescon Technologies, a medical technology company taken from startup to acquisition, 2011 to 2020; named on four patents

Finance

Quantitative analyst at GLC, Man AHL and Eladian Partners, 2009 to 2012

Science

Particle physicist and lecturer, University of Oxford, working on the ATLAS experiment, 2003 to 2008

Defence

Defence Intelligence analyst, Ministry of Defence, 2003

Boards & panels

Non-executive and advisory roles including The Pensions Regulator, ESRC Council, the GBRX AI Advisory Council, the OpenUK Advisory Board, and the GDS Responsible AI Advisory Panel

Fellowships

Fellow of the Institute of Physics; Fellow of the Institute of Analytics

Honours

CBE for Services to Technology and Analysis, New Year Honours 2024

Recognition

Awards include Hero of the Year 2025 at the Computing Women in Tech Excellence Awards, a ranking of 12 in Computer Weekly's UKTech50 and 7 in Digital Leaders of the Year, and a place in Women in Data's Twenty in Data & Tech

Laura speaks on behavioural science, how governments can make better decisions, AI in government and public services, data-driven decision making, delivery, and making technology work for people. Recent talks include:

• Predicting the Future? Lessons from Downing Street Experts confidently predict the future on a regular basis, yet our predictions barely outperform random chance. How to improve our decision making for an uncertain future, driving better public services and a future where wellbeing is paramount.
• The Bluffer's Guide to AI What AI actually is, where it came from, and how everything from basic machine learning to generative AI works under the hood. No technical skills required.
• How to Make Better Decisions The science and practice of improving your own decision making with data and evidence, including why predicting the future does not work and what to do about it.
• How to Get Your Own Way with Data Using data and evidence to influence people towards more evidence-based choices, and how behavioural research can be used for good and bad.
• AI with Actual Impact A real world story of AI that is not about technology. It is about the people we can help and the people who make it happen.
• Changing the Status Quo Data, analysis, innovation and adventures in rapid prototyping at the heart of government.
• Getting Started with AI, for Leaders A hands-on session teaching busy leaders how to get the best out of generative AI in their own work. Bring a phone, a laptop and a positive attitude.

Laura also speaks regularly on AI policy and regulation, and gives bespoke talks, including for female leaders, early career technologists, and counter-extremism and religious tolerance audiences.

A selection of recent broadcast and conference appearances:

Laura has also spoken at AI UK (The Alan Turing Institute), the GovTech Show, the Public Sector Data Summit and the AI Summit, at numerous events in the Houses of Parliament, and for corporate and academic audiences internationally.

Talks to watch, conversations to listen to, and writing to read.

Speaking

• Question Time: AI special, full episode BBC One, May 2026
• Predicting the Future with AI? Lessons from Downing Street Tallinn Digital Summit, 2025
• Making Government More Human with AI Keynote, Algorithmic Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2026
• Driven by Results: How Advances in AI Could Transform the Public Sector Keynote, QuanCon 2026, Quantexa

Podcasts

• Why We're Wasting Our Time Predicting the Future of AI The Rest Is Money, with Steph McGovern
• Leveraging AI and Human Potential Force Multiplier video podcast, with Danny Attias
• From Particle Physics to Parliament: Making Governments More Human through Artificial Intelligence Digitally Curious, with Andrew Grill
• Using AI to Make Government More Human ServiceNow UK&I Executive Circle podcast

Interviews

• The AI Paradox: AI is Scaling, Skills are Not Harvey Nash Tech Flix, with David Savage
• Interview of the Week The Innovator
• How to Cut Through the AI Hype and Build Real Solutions Apolitical
• AI Means Nothing If It Doesn't Improve Real Lives WeAreTechWomen
• Challenge Limits in the Civil Service: Five Minutes with Laura Gilbert Global Government Forum
• UK Government Wants an Almost Open Licence for Public AI Projects The Stack

Articles

• Changing Government, One Datastream at a Time Heywood Quarterly
• Could AI Save the NHS? LSE British Politics and Policy

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