Meet the team: Rupert Edwards

Could you outline your career path so far?

I  began my legal career with a global law firm and have since worked in-house across the technology sector, gaining expertise in areas such as broadcast and satellite infrastructure, global media rights distribution, blockchain and digital assets investment regulation, and AI and data science.

What motivated you to start a career in the AI industry?

I find the philosophical, technical, and commercial opportunities and challenges of AI fascinating. A typical day involves helping governments, enterprises, and internal teams understand how to deploy AI safely and effectively. Every project presents novel questions, making the work constantly stimulating.

How do you see AI changing business in the near future?

I think AI is going to change business in a number of different ways, it’s difficult to cover them all. But we’re regularly working with our clients to build customer support solutions, and we’re seeing first-hand how AI is transforming the landscape through automation, enhanced decision-making, and smarter customer interactions. AI agents already handle routine tasks like data entry, verification, and fraud detection, allowing human agents to focus on complex cases. Real-time AI support improves efficiency by suggesting responses, retrieving policies, and speeding up resolution times. Looking ahead, multi-agent AI systems will push these efficiencies even further – working in coordinated teams to manage claims end-to-end with minimal human input. As AI takes on more of the heavy lifting, human roles will shift towards oversight and high-value customer engagement, driving both cost savings and improved service quality.

What are the primary challenges that organisations face as they bid to innovate with AI responsibly and ethically?

I think the key challenges include maintaining robust data and privacy security frameworks. On top of that, making sense of and the application of governance rules – especially around fairness and transparency – will take ongoing careful analysis and implementation.

If you could have dinner with one person from the past or present, who would it be?

Ernest Shackleton. His leadership and heroism during the James Caird voyage in 1916 – an 800-mile journey through the treacherous Southern Ocean to rescue his stranded expedition – remain one of the greatest feats of endurance and navigation in history. After surviving 17 days at sea from the Antarctic to South Georgia, he then had to cross the island’s mountains to a whaling station on the north side, to organise the rescue of his crew, shipwrecked on the Antarctic ice.  Everyone survived. I grew up sailing small boats like the James Caird, so for me, that would make a great dinner party conversation.