The Morning Brief Wendy Hall: One Woman's Voice in a Room Full of AI Tech Bros
Mar 6, 2026
Wendy Hall, pioneering computer scientist and co-founder of Web Science, reflects on AI governance, social machines, and why repeating web-era mistakes could be worse. She tackles AGI hype, the need for metrology and laws on deepfakes. She also highlights the Global South's stake and the persistent gender imbalance shaping AI culture.
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Generative AI Is Built On The Web
- Generative AI depends on the internet for data, infrastructure, and distribution.
- Wendy Hall explains OpenAI, Google and cloud providers grew from the web and use our publicly shared internet data to train models.
Study AI As Social Machines Not Pure Tech
- Social machines require social science approaches because human behaviour co-creates technology outcomes.
- Hall says web science taught that longitudinal, interdisciplinary studies are needed, not just fast engineering fixes.
Make AI Disclosure And Deepfakes Illegal
- Implement governance and accountability alongside research to manage harms.
- Hall recommends criminalising failure to disclose AI use and penalising deliberate deepfakes as part of a governance mix.