Aimee van Wynsberghe
Humboldt Professor of Applied Ethics of Artificial Intelligence University of BonnFoundation for Responsible RoboticsPhoto and Bio
Short Bio
Aimee van Wynsberghe has been working in ICT and robotics since 2004. She began her career as part of a research team working with surgical robots in Canada at CSTAR (Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advance Robotics). She is the Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Applied Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bonn in Germany. Aimee is co-founder and co-director of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics and on the board of the Institute for Accountability in a Digital Age. She is a 2018 L'Oreal Unesco 'For Women in Science' laureate. Aimee also serves as a member of the European Commission's High-Level Expert Group on AI and is a founding board member of the Netherlands AI Alliance. She is a founding editor for the international peer-reviewed journal AI & Ethics (Springer Nature) and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Futures Council on Artificial Intelligence and Humanity. Aimee has been named one of the Netherlands top 400 influential women under 38 by VIVA and was named one of the 25 ‘women in robotics you need to know about’. She is author of the book Healthcare Robots: Ethics, Design, and Implementation and has been awarded an NWO personal research grant to study how we can responsibly design service robots. She has been interviewed by BBC, Quartz, Financial Times, and other International news media on the topic of ethics and robots, and is often invited to speak at International conferences and summits.
Upcoming Events
Latest

Humboldt Professorship
Aimee is thrilled to announce that she was chosen as a winner of the "Alexander von Humboldt" grant for AI research. She will be moving to Bonn, Germany to join an outstanding team of researchers and create her own lab focusing on "Sustainable AI". It is a great honor...

International Foundation of Robotics Research Colloquium
On Thursday Nov 5, Aimee is joining Rodney Brooks and Yoshihiko Nakamura for the International Foundation of Robotics Research colloquium on "Robots and Society". Tune in to hear the three of them discuss current issues in robotics, moderated by Raja Chatila.
Robophilosophy Keynote
Aimee had the pleasure of giving a plenary talk at the 2020 edition of RoboPhil. Her talk took a new approach to the idea of ‘designing robots for reciprocity’. She took a critical look at the initiative to design robots for reciprocation between robot and human and...

Artificial intelligence: From ethics to policy (EU Parliament Research Blog)
Mihalis Kritikos (Policy Analyst at the European Parliament) wrote a nice piece about Aimee's STOA study Artificial Intelligence: From Ethics to Policy (which she wrote at the request of the European Parliament's STOA panel). See his full piece here. The study then...

AI for Good Discussion: How to develop Accountable AI solutions?
Aimee and Jan Kleijssen (Council of Europe) were on the virtual AI for Good stage to discuss the concept of accountability for artificial intelligence.

Aimee’s STOA Report Released! Artificial intelligence: From ethics to policy
Aimee wrote a report for the European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) think tank entitled Artificial Intelligence: From Ethics to Policy. Abstract There is little doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will...
Media
Humboldt Professorship
Aimee is thrilled to announce that she was chosen as a winner of the "Alexander von Humboldt" grant for AI research. She will be moving to Bonn, Germany to join an outstanding team of researchers and create her own lab focusing on "Sustainable AI". It is a great honor...
Robophilosophy Keynote
Aimee had the pleasure of giving a plenary talk at the 2020 edition of RoboPhil. Her talk took a new approach to the idea of ‘designing robots for reciprocity’. She took a critical look at the initiative to design robots for reciprocation between robot and human and...
Artificial intelligence: From ethics to policy (EU Parliament Research Blog)
Mihalis Kritikos (Policy Analyst at the European Parliament) wrote a nice piece about Aimee's STOA study Artificial Intelligence: From Ethics to Policy (which she wrote at the request of the European Parliament's STOA panel). See his full piece here. The study then...
Aimee’s STOA Report Released! Artificial intelligence: From ethics to policy
Aimee wrote a report for the European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) think tank entitled Artificial Intelligence: From Ethics to Policy. Abstract There is little doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will...
Editorial Board of new Springer Nature Journal “AI and Ethics”
Aimee has accepted an invitation to be on the editorial board of the Springer Nature journal AI and Ethics. This new journal aims to: promote informed debate and discussion of the ethical, regulatory, and policy implications that arise from the development of AI. It...
WISE Blog: The cycle of women in robotics: from vicious to virtuous
Aimee wrote a blog post as part of a series on women in STEM. The series was made up of contributors from the Women in Science and Engineering Conference 2019. Check out the post here.
Aimee featured on the Insights on Responsible Business Podcast
She is interviewed by Sir Rob Wainwright about "Why ethics matter for responsible business". Check it out here.
VIVA 400 List
Aimee has once again been named as one of the 400 women in the Netherlands who are "successful, matter, and make a difference". You can vote for her in the category of 'Tech Talent' here: https://www.viva.nl/viva400/techtalenten/.
Interview in Verdict AI Magazine
Aimee was interviewed by Rob Scammell for and featured extensively in an article for Verdict AI Magazine (Winter 2019 Edition). You can find the article here.
Critiquing the Reasons for Making Artificial Moral Agents (2018)
The Dawning of the Ethics of Environmental Robots (2017)
Service Robots, Ethics, and Design (2016)
Designing robots for care: Care centered value-sensitive design (2013)
Ethicist as Designer: a pragmatic approach to ethics in the lab (2014)
Book: Healthcare Robots (Ashgate, 2015)

Telesurgery: An Ethical Appraisal (2008)
Affiliations
Bonn University
Role: Humboldt Full Professor (Chair of Applied Ethics of Artificial Intelligence)
Paid: Yes
NDA: No
Foundation for Responsible Robotics
Role: Co-Founder & President
Paid: No
NDA: No
European Commission
Role: Member of High-Level Expert Group on AI
Paid: No
NDA: No
ALLAI (Alliance for AI in the Netherlands)
Role: Board Member
Paid: No
NDA: No
Institute for Accountability in a Digital Age
Role: Board Member
Paid: No
NDA: No
Current Funding
Humboldt Foundation
Grant Name: Humboldt Professorship
Type: Personal Research Grant
Amount: 3.5 Million Euros
Paid To:Bonn University