Gry Hasselbalch is an author and scholar with expertise in data and AI ethics and policy.
With a career spanning two decades, she has contributed to the shaping of policy discussions particularly on AI and data. Notably, she was a member of the EU’s High-Level Expert Group on AI (2018-2020) that developed the EU’s AI ethics guidelines that significantly contributed to the AI Act. Today she is the Senior Key Expert for the EU’s International Outreach for a Human-Centric Approach to Artificial Intelligence initiative (InTouchAI.eu) overseeing the research and evidence activities and supporting the European Commission in engaging with international partners on regulatory and ethical matters.
Gry is the Co-founder and Director of academic research of the think tank DataEthics.eu, which has been active since 2015 in challenging the power dynamics of big tech companies.
She has a PhD in data ethics and power from the University of Copenhagen.
Prior to her current roles, Gry spent a decade running the Danish Media Council’s national awareness center on youth online protection, education and empowerment, where she among others contributed to discussions at UN Internet Governance Fora (IGFs) and founded the Global Privacy as Innovation Network.
Gry is the author of several books including Human Power – a Technology Politics for Humanity (forthcoming), Data Pollution & Power – White Paper for a Global Sustainable Development Agenda (Sustainable AI Lab, Bonn, 2022), Data Ethics of Power – A Human Approach in the Big Data and AI Era (Edward Elgar, 2021), and Data Ethics – The New Competitive Advantage (Publishare, 2016).
She is regularly invited as key note speaker, lecturer or panelist on topics related to her expertise. This has included global policy events, such as COP27, Paris Peace Forum, World Expo and in the contexts of key actors, such as The German Marshall Fund, The World Economic Forum and the OECD as well as national governments and the European Parliament.
Gry was a member of the EU’s High Level Group on AI. She is today a member of the Nordic Ethical AI Expert Group established in 2023 by Nordic Innovation, an organisation under the The Nordic Council of Ministers and The Nordic Council to develop a common vision and roadmap for ethical AI in the Nordic region. She is also a member of the UN’s AI Advisory Body’s extended expert network. Furthermore, she is member of the working group that developed and are now implementing the EU-US Technology & Trade Council Joint Roadmap on Trustworthy AI and Risk Assessment. She is also a member of Bayer’s Bioethics Council on Human Health, focusing specifically on AI.
HUMANISM IN DATA AND AI
In her work she advocates a humanistic approach to AI and data, highlighting the critical role of humanity in navigating the challenges posed by these technologies. While there is a tendency to over rely on technological solutions, human power stands out as unpredictable, disorderly, and self-reflective, offering the ability to adapt, challenge authority, and create new possibilities. By better understanding the specific characteristics of humanity, we can unlock its potential to offer new solutions to real-world social problems.
HUMANISM IN DATA & AI 