Dr Rupert Barrett-Taylor is a Research Fellow within the AI for Data-Driven Advantage defence-focused policy research workstream within the Defence and National Security grand challenge. His work focuses on the ethical, operational, and epistemological implications of Artificial Intelligence in military operations, including questions of command and control, targeting and intelligence production.

Rupert has over 20 years’ experience working in defence and security issues. His experience includes operational deployment as a civilian analyst and liaison officer for the UK in Afghanistan and work as an open-source analyst within the private sector. He joined the Alan Turing Institute from his second stint in the UK’s Civil Service where his last role was as head of the team supporting the cross government Integrated Security Fund with data and analytical expertise in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Sussex, an MA in War Studies from King’s College London, and a B.Eng. in Aerospace Engineering. His PhD thesis is a socio-technical analysis problematising and critiquing the conventional understanding of software as a principal means for identifying targets, improving organisational efficiency, and optimising the targeting process. Upcoming publications examine the role played by the private sector in target production through software platforms, and the consequences of reifying battlefield targeting through a quantitative lens.