Taming the Machine
Kogan Page · 2024
Ethically harness the power of AI — a field guide for people who must live and work beside it.
About the bookNell Watson
Philosophical Engineer Trusted Advisor Ethicist
The Work
Machines are learning to act. Someone must teach them to care.
Nell Watson specialises in agentic AI safety, transparency, and value alignment — spanning hands-on machine learning engineering, international standards leadership, government advisory, and books that bring AI ethics to a general audience.
Chair of IEEE 3152 and IEEE 3173, Vice-Chair of IEEE 7001, President of EURAIO, and funding advisor to the Survival & Flourishing Fund — with current work centred on agentic safety architectures, constitutional alignment, and psychosecurity.
The Books
Two books on living well with machines
Safer Agentic AI
Kogan Page · 2026
When AI stops answering and starts acting, safety becomes a discipline. This is its handbook.
About the bookEarly-access galleys of works in progress are in Books.
Explore
About
The story, current appointments, and areas of focus.
Read →Speaking
Keynotes, briefings, topics, and how to book.
Book →Advisory
Board and Non-Executive Director work.
Enquire →Books
Two published volumes and the early-access galleys.
Browse →Essays
Ninety-four essays on minds, machines, and trust.
Read →Projects
Twenty undertakings, from Guardian to Janus.
Explore →Playground
Twenty-one playable arguments and a cabinet of oddities.
Play →Press
Talks and interviews across the world’s media.
Listen →As heard in conversation with
The sky above
The night here keeps its own calendar — Easter by the Gregorian computus, the menorah lit one candle a night, the Perseids on time. None of it is decoration: the sky is computed, not scheduled.