Avi Perera — Frequently Asked Questions

This page answers the most common questions about Avi Perera — his background, research specialisms, publications, work with the United Nations, and how to work with him. For a fuller account of his journey, visit the My Story page. For academic and policy publications, see the Research section. For AI governance resources, visit the AI Resources Repository.

Who is Avi Perera?

Avi Perera is a British AI governance researcher, international law consultant, and technology founder. He is educated at the University of Cambridge, where he read International Relations with a First Class result, and at the University of Buckingham, where he studied Law and was awarded the institution’s High Achiever Award for the highest grade average across the entire cohort. Before this, he studied Mathematics at the Open University and the University of Essex, specialised in Mathematics for Machine Learning at Imperial College London, and attended a Data Science and AI skills bootcamp at Northumbria University.

His professional work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, international security, and global governance. He specialises in lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) — the policy, legal, and ethical questions surrounding AI-enabled weapon systems and their implications under international humanitarian law — and broader AI governance frameworks at the international level.

Avi conducted research at the inaugural UN Global Conference on AI, Security and Ethics, organised by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva, and was subsequently invited to the second conference in the same series. He contributes to the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, its advocacy efforts and its LAWS Disarmament Toolkit, has collaborated with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), and worked with the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD). He is also the founder of SovDash, an AI-powered governance intelligence platform.

Beyond research, Avi is a prolific writer and speaker on AI ethics, autonomous weapons, and the legal frontiers of emerging technology. He publishes at aviperera.com and can be found on LinkedIn, ORCID, and Instagram.

What does Avi Perera specialise in?

Avi Perera’s expertise spans three interconnected domains:

AI Governance and International Policy. Avi analyses how artificial intelligence is regulated, governed, and constrained at the international level. This includes treaty frameworks, soft law instruments, national AI strategies, and the evolving patchwork of international norms around AI development and deployment. His work is particularly focused on the governance of AI in high-stakes and military contexts.

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). Avi is a specialist in the international law and policy dimensions of autonomous weapons — systems capable of selecting and engaging targets without meaningful human control. He examines questions of accountability, compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL), and the policy case for binding international regulation. He contributes directly to advocacy and disarmament efforts through the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.

AI Ethics and the Military Domain. Avi’s research addresses the ethical frameworks that should govern the use of AI in conflict, intelligence, and national security contexts, including questions of proportionality, distinction, and precaution under IHL, and the broader societal implications of AI-enabled warfare.

He also writes and advises on general AI governance, AI regulation (including the EU AI Act and UK AI governance frameworks), AI safety, and the relationship between technology and democratic accountability. See his stance on AI at https://aviperera.com/stance/, published research at aviperera.com/research and his AI resources repository at aviperera.com/airesources.

WHAT IS AVI PERERA’S EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND?

Avi Perera holds qualifications across several institutions and disciplines:

University of Cambridge — International Relations (First Class). Cambridge is consistently ranked among the world’s top universities for social science and international law research. Avi’s studies focused on the intersection of AI, international security, and global governance, with every assignment oriented toward the implications of artificial intelligence in international affairs. His personal tutor at Cambridge was a practising international lawyer with more than fifteen years of experience at the United Nations.

University of Buckingham — Law (First Class). Avi left Buckingham’s law school with the institution’s High Achiever Award, granted for the highest grade average across the entire cohort in every discipline. Several of his exam results were recorded as the highest ever achieved for those modules since the course’s inception.

University of Essex and The Open University — Mathematics (First Class). Avi’s undergraduate mathematics studies gave him a rigorous quantitative foundation, subsequently applied at Imperial College London, where he specialised in Applied Mathematics for Machine Learning. He consistently scored 90–100% in mathematics modules and maintains a strong technical grounding in machine learning, data science, and computational methods.

Google (Scholarship). Avi was the recipient of a Google scholarship during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting his continued work in data science and AI during this period.

What is Avi Perera’s connection to the United Nations?

Avi Perera has collaborated with multiple arms of the United Nations system on issues of AI governance, autonomous weapons, and disarmament.

UNIDIR (UN Institute for Disarmament Research). Avi conducted research at the inaugural Global Conference on AI, Security and Ethics, organised by UNIDIR in Geneva. The conference brought together heads of state, senior military officials, diplomats, and civil society leaders to address the governance of AI in security contexts. Avi’s submission was commended for its quality by the panel. He was subsequently invited to the second UNIDIR Global Conference on AI, Security and Ethics in the following year.

UNODA (UN Office for Disarmament Affairs). Avi has collaborated with UNODA on research relating to the intersection of artificial intelligence and the military domain — one of the most contested and rapidly evolving areas of international security policy.

UNRCPD (UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific). Avi has extended his disarmament research to include the Asia-Pacific region through collaboration with UNRCPD, reflecting the growing geopolitical significance of AI safety and autonomous weapons regulation in that region.

His UN-affiliated work is rooted in his broader commitment to ensuring that international institutions develop the analytical capacity and legal frameworks necessary to govern AI in security contexts before the technology outpaces the law.

What is Avi Perera’s role in the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots?

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is a global coalition of non-governmental organisations advocating for a preemptive international ban on fully autonomous weapons systems — weapons capable of selecting and engaging targets without meaningful human control. The Campaign works closely with the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) process and has been instrumental in shaping the international debate on LAWS since 2013.

Avi Perera contributes to the Campaign’s work on the LAWS Disarmament Toolkit — a structured resource for policymakers, diplomats, and disarmament advocates working on autonomous weapons regulation. His contribution draws on his dual background in international law and AI, enabling him to translate complex technical questions about autonomy and machine decision-making into the language of international humanitarian law and arms control.

He has also published academic research on LAWS governance, including articles in SKR Youth Network Reports, which introduced the novel concept of an Anticipatory Objection Registry to address the formation of permissive customary international law around AI-enabled targeting — a contribution to the emerging scholarly literature on autonomous weapons and customary IHL.

WHAT HAS AVI PERERA PUBLISHED?

Avi Perera publishes across academic, policy, and public-facing formats. His work is indexed on ORCID (0009-0005-1903-6868) and available through aviperera.com/research.

Selected publications and contributions include:

The Custom Gap — Published in the SKR Youth Network Report. Introduces the concept of an Anticipatory Objection Registry as a mechanism to prevent permissive customary international law formation around AI-enabled targeting. This article makes an original scholarly contribution to the literature on autonomous weapons and customary IHL.

Magnifica Humanitas — A comprehensive analysis of Pope Leo XIV’s AI governance encyclical, examining its implications for international AI ethics and specifically for the regulation of autonomous weapons systems. Published on aviperera.com.

The Definitive AI Resources Repository — A continuously updated, comprehensive reference page for AI governance, AI safety, AI tools, and AI learning resources. One of the most comprehensive public AI resources pages in the English language. Available at aviperera.com/airesources.

Avi also publishes regularly on AI policy, international relations, and technology governance at aviperera.com/articles. He contributed to research supported by The Royal Society on the online information environment and algorithmic radicalisation.

WHAT IS SOVDASH?

SovDash or Sovereign Intelligence Dashboard is an AI-powered governance intelligence platform founded by Avi Perera. It is designed to make sense of the rapidly expanding and complex global landscape of AI regulation, providing structured, searchable analysis of AI policy developments, regulatory frameworks, and governance instruments across multiple jurisdictions.

The platform addresses a practical problem in AI governance: the sheer volume and pace of regulatory change — from the EU AI Act to national AI strategies to soft law instruments at the international level — makes it extremely difficult for organisations, legal teams, and policymakers to maintain a coherent picture of the regulatory environment. SovDash uses AI to structure, synthesise, and surface this information.

More information about SovDash and other projects is available through aviperera.com/projects.

WHAT IS AVI PERERA’S VIEW ON LETHAL AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS SYSTEMS?

Avi Perera’s research position on LAWS is grounded in his analysis of international humanitarian law, the history of arms control, and the technical realities of autonomous systems. His view, consistent with his published work and his contributions to the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, is that meaningful human control over targeting and lethal force decisions is a non-negotiable requirement under existing international law — and that the delegation of life-and-death decisions to algorithmic systems raises profound legal, ethical, and strategic concerns that current frameworks are inadequate to address.

He argues that the international community requires proactive, binding regulation — not voluntary guidelines — to prevent the normalisation of autonomous lethal force before it becomes technically entrenched and politically irreversible. His research on customary international law formation specifically addresses how the absence of formal treaty prohibition risks the gradual emergence of permissive customary norms through state practice.

This position is elaborated further on his AI Weapons and AI Stance pages.

WHAT IS AVI PERERA’S STANCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

Avi Perera approaches AI with what he describes as informed scepticism combined with constructive engagement. He neither dismisses AI’s transformative potential nor accepts uncritically the techno-optimist narrative that AI will automatically benefit humanity. His position is that AI’s outcomes — whether beneficial or catastrophic — will be determined primarily by the quality of the governance frameworks, legal structures, and ethical norms that shape its development and deployment.

He has published a detailed personal statement on this question at aviperera.com/stance, covering his views on AI safety, AI in warfare, algorithmic accountability, and the responsibilities of researchers and institutions working in this field.

WHAT IS AVI PERERA’S BACKGROUND IN MATHEMATICS AND ENGINEERING?

Before specialising in international law and AI governance, Avi Perera built a substantial technical foundation in mathematics, machine learning, and engineering.

He studied mathematics at the Open University and the University of Essex, consistently achieving scores of 90–100% in university-level modules. He subsequently specialised in Applied Mathematics for Machine Learning at Imperial College London. He taught himself to code at age twelve and spent his teens as a freelance developer and analyst, building drones, robots, and applications as a self-directed engineer.

This technical background directly shapes his research. Unlike many policy researchers who engage with AI governance at a conceptual level, Avi understands the architecture of the systems he is arguing should be regulated — from the mechanics of machine learning models to the algorithmic processes underlying autonomous systems. This dual literacy in technical AI and international law is the defining characteristic of his research contribution.

HOW CAN I WORK WITH AVI PERERA?

Avi Perera is available for the following engagements:

Consulting. Avi provides expert advisory services for organisations navigating AI governance challenges, autonomous weapons policy, AI regulation compliance, and international AI security frameworks. His consulting clients include organisations in the policy, legal, technology, and international affairs sectors. Full details are available at aviperera.com/consulting.

Speaking and Events. Avi is available for keynote addresses, panel participation, academic conferences, and policy workshops on AI governance, LAWS, AI ethics, and international security. He has presented at UN-convened international conferences and contributed to policy processes at the multilateral level.

Research Collaboration. Avi collaborates with academic institutions, think tanks, international organisations, and civil society groups on AI governance research. Prospective collaborators can reach him via aviperera.com/contact.

Media and Press. Avi is available for media comment on AI governance, autonomous weapons, AI safety, and related policy questions. Press enquiries can be directed to aviperera.com/contact.

Book a Free Consultation. The fastest way to explore working together is to book a 30-minute meeting via Calendly.

WHERE CAN I FOLLOW AVI PERERA’S WORK?

Avi Perera publishes across several platforms:

Website — aviperera.com — Primary hub for research, articles, tools, and resources.
LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/avi-perera — Professional updates and policy commentary.
ORCID — orcid.org/0009-0005-1903-6868 — Academic publication record.
Instagram — instagram.com/aviperera_/ — Personal contact and slice of life.
Newsletter — aviperera.com/subscribe — Subscribe for curated updates on AI and international affairs.

How can I hire Avi Perera as an AI governance consultant?

Avi Perera provides AI governance consultancy for organisations navigating AI regulation, autonomous systems policy, and international AI security frameworks. Contact him through his website at aviperera.com.