spelt .athinktank, pronounced ai-think-tank.

Based in Cape Town, South Africa .athinktank undertakes law-focused AI research and advisory projects, with a focus on ethics and risk. Our mission is to support leading-edge artificial intelligence ethics research with [truly] human ideas. We value curiosity and creativity over process and efficiency meaning our outputs are autonomous, not automated. We avoid tailoring generic products and services to suit specific challenges. Instead, we see our work as a craft – aiming to solve critical questions with unique and thoughtful answers. In this way, we buck trend by always keeping humanity as the beating heart informing our research.

Mark Gaffley, director at .athinktank, has degrees in arts and law. At present, he is reading for his PhD in jurisprudence at the University of Cape Town where his research focuses on the ethical implications of AI, with a particular interest in AI’s effects on human autonomy and independent decision-making. He is a purpose-driven person with broad start-up, in-house legal and research experience, gained with leading local and international companies and think tanks including Uber, Takealot, Media24, Human Sciences Research Council, simple.Capital() and Research ICT Africa. He is a co-author of Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in South Africa (HSRC Press), the first major investigation of the real and potential human rights implications of the 4IR in South Africa.