Ms. Ayca Ariyoruk

Ayca Ariyoruk is a global policy strategist and cross-cultural ethics advisor in artificial intelligence with two decades of experience spanning diplomacy, technology, and education. She is a Senior Fellow at the Washington-based Center for AI and Digital Policy and a contributor to the AI and Democratic Values Index, which evaluates 80+ countries’ national AI strategies against democratic values and human rights. Her research addresses societal and geopolitical risks of emerging technologies, including lethal autonomous weapons systems.

Previously, Ayca spent nine years at Soliya, where she partnered with MIT Media Lab to pioneer video conferencing for public diplomacy and advance cross-cultural dialogue through the EU’s neighborhood policy and U.S. engagement with the Middle East. She has long served as a United Nations observer, monitoring the Security Council and contributing to negotiations that produced reforms such as the creation of the UN Human Rights Council.

Her commentary has appeared in the Financial Times, The New York Times, BBC, and other outlets.

Ayca holds an MA in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University and a BA in Political Science from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She also holds two certifications in Trustworthy AI Policy and is a certified cross-cultural facilitator endorsed by the UN.