Dr Asress Gikay
Senior Lecturer in AI, Disruptive Innovation and Law
Elliott Jaques 008
- Email: asress.gikay@brunel.ac.uk
- Tel: +44 (0)1895 266651
Summary
Asress Gikay is a Senior Lecturer in AI, Disruptive Innovation, and Law at Brunel University London. He is an expert in legal and policy aspects of artificial intelligence including facial recognition technology, privacy and data protection. He has authored several publications on AI regulation in reputable academic journals including the Cambridge Law Journal and the Interntional Jounnal of Law and Information Technology.
His work has been widely cited by academics and media platforms including BBC News, the Telegraph, the Weekly UK and many others. Asress has been interviewed by on BBC News and BBC South Today on the regulation of facial recogntion technology in law enforcement. He contributes to several media platforms including the Guardian, the EU Observer, the Conversation UK and Policing Insight on various current topics involving AI, facial recognition, and data protection. Some of his works have been republished in several media outlets and blogs around the world, including Yahoo News, Policing Insight, Inform's Blog, and Yahoo Movies.
Asress is a member of Brunel University Center for AI: Social and Digital Innovation; he led the centre's Thought Leadership Series where academics, researchers and practictioners discuss the socio-economic, ethical, political, and policy challenges and opportunities AI technologies bring for two years(2022-2024). He also serves as a board member of the AI Centre.
BBC London Interview: police presence and live facial recognition will contribute to saftey of the Notting Hill Carnival 2025
BBC South Today Interview on Live Facial Recognition: law needs to ensure proportionality
Op-Eds
How Meta enables deepfake financial scams — and EU AI Act isn't fixing it(EU Observer, July 15, 22025), https://euobserver.com/digital/aradc7eaf8?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21301092454&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NfDBhDyARIsAD-ILeCM8nW2VtbuO8xQoXL832Q9hp5DSri8BJzdfT3mQfylyldU2fjF9zkaAlrAEALw_wcB.
What is the EU doing on AI facial-scraping recognition, and is it enough?(EU Observer, January 27, 2025),
Where EU efforts to regulate AI fall short(EU Observer, September 13, 2024), https://euobserver.com/digital/are9af2ae9.
Facial recongition helps fight serious crime, but for minor UK offences, it should be off limits(The Gaurdian, December 24, 2023), https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/24/facial-recognition-uk-drivers-licence-police-lineup.
Recent Events
Participated as a speaker at the Momentum London AI Summit organised by Reuters on September 29–30, 2025, together with two of our students from the Master’s in Artificial Intelligence, Law and Technology programme — Andrew Kent (on the right) and Davis Onyancha Nyakundi (on the left) in the photo below.
Qualifications
PhD(with honour), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies(Italy), FHEA, SJD, LLM & LLB
Responsibility
Asress teaches AI, Law and Ethics, Law, Policy, and Goverance of AI, and Privacy and Data Protection at postgraduate level at Brunel Law School.
He is a programme lead for the LLM in AI, Law and Technology.
Newest selected publications
Gikay, AA. (2024) 'Risks, innovation, and adaptability in the UK’s incrementalism versus the European Union’s comprehensive artificial intelligence regulation'. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 32 (1). pp. 1 - 25. ISSN: 0967-0769 Open Access Link
Gikay, AA. (2023) 'Regulating Use by Law Enforcement Authorities of Real-Time Facial Recognition Technology in Public Spaces: An Incremental Approach'. Cambridge Law Journal, 82 (3). pp. 414 - 449. ISSN: 0008-1973 Open Access Link
Ondersma, C., Varney, E., Kailiang, M., Iheme, W., Rochemont, S., Atkinson, J., et al. (Accepted) 'Discrimination, Vulnerable Consumers and Financial Inclusion: Fair Access to Financial Services and the Law', in Gikay, A. and Stanescu, C. (eds.) Discrimination, Vulnerable Consumers and Financial Inclusion: Fair Access to Financial Services and the Law. Open Access Link
Gikay, AA. (2021) 'The American Way—Until Machine Learning Algorithm Beats the Law? Algorithmic Consumer Credit Scoring in the EU and US'. Case Western Reserve Journal of Law, Technology and the Internet, 12. pp. 1 - 60.Open Access Link
Gikay, AA. and Stanescu, CG. (2019) 'Technological Populism and Its Archetypes: Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies'. Nordic Journal of Commercial Law, 2019 (2). pp. 65 - 109. ISSN: 1459-9686 Open Access Link