PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ignacio Cofone

Also known as Ignacio N. Cofone

Ignacio Cofone is a legal scholar who studies how law should govern the harms AI creates, and he is Professor of Law and Regulation of AI at the University of Oxford. A lawyer and economist from Argentina, he earned degrees at Austral University, the University of Bologna, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Hamburg University, and Yale Law School, then joined McGill University's Faculty of Law in 2018. In November 2020, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released his report on reforming federal privacy law to address artificial intelligence, and McGill named him Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence Law & Data Governance in 2022. His 2023 book, The Privacy Fallacy, argues that AI requires restructuring privacy and data protection law around duties of non-exploitation. At Oxford since 2024, he works at the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Ethics in AI and is one of the academic directors of a UNESCO and Oxford course on AI, justice and the rule of law.

Timeline

  1. By 2018

    Degrees from Austral to Yale

    A lawyer and economist from Argentina, he earns a law degree from Austral University, an MA from the University of Bologna, a joint PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam and Hamburg University as an Erasmus Mundus Fellow, and an LLM and JSD from Yale Law School. Before joining McGill in 2018, he is a research fellow at the NYU Information Law Institute, a resident fellow at the Yale Law School Information Society Project, and a legal advisor for the City of Buenos Aires.

  2. 2018–2019

    Assistant professor at McGill

    He joins McGill University's Faculty of Law as an assistant professor in August 2018 and teaches Business Associations and Information Privacy Law. In 2019, his paper “Antidiscriminatory Privacy” wins a Privacy Papers for Policymakers award from the Future of Privacy Forum, and he receives the Charles Gonthier Fellowship of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice.

  3. November 2020

    A PIPEDA reform report on AI

    In November 2020, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada releases his report “Policy Proposals for PIPEDA Reform to Address Artificial Intelligence”. The report sets out recommendations to modernize PIPEDA, the cornerstone of Canada's federal private-sector privacy regime, in view of AI, and it informs the office's recommendations for privacy law reform.

  4. 2020–2022

    A Canada Research Chair in AI law

    He edits The Right to be Forgotten: A Canadian and Comparative Perspective, published by Routledge in 2020, and Class Actions in Privacy Law, published by Routledge in 2021. In January 2022, McGill names him Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Artificial Intelligence Law & Data Governance.

  5. 2023

    Tenure and a Principal's Prize

    He receives McGill's Principal's Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researchers at the Law Convocation Ceremony in May 2023. In June 2023, he is promoted to associate professor with tenure while holding the Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence Law and Data Governance.

  6. 2023–2025

    The Privacy Fallacy

    Cambridge University Press publishes The Privacy Fallacy: Harm and Power in the Information Economy in November 2023. The book argues that AI requires restructuring privacy and data protection law around duties of non-exploitation, because laws based on individual control have become ineffective. It is a finalist for the 2024 Donner Prize and is longlisted for the 2025 Inner Temple Book Prize.

  7. 2024

    A joint Oxford post in AI law

    In August 2024, Oxford appoints him Associate Professor in Law and Regulation of AI, a joint post with the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Ethics in AI in association with Reuben College. His research program there focuses on regulatory mechanisms that prevent and redress nonmaterial AI harms.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor of AI regulation at Oxford

    He is Professor of Law and Regulation of AI at Oxford, appointed at the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Ethics in AI, and serves as the law faculty's Associate Dean for Equality and Diversity. In April 2026, UNESCO and Oxford launch the free online course AI, Justice, and the Rule of Law, with him as one of its academic directors. He is writing Plausible for Cambridge University Press, a book on how to govern AI systems whose authority comes from being convincing.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

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  1. Ignacio Cofone appointed Assistant Professor | Faculty of Law - McGill University mcgill.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Privacy Papers 2019: Spotlight on the Winning Authors - Future of Privacy Forum fpf.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Yaëll Emerich and Ignacio Cofone named Canada Research Chairs | Faculty of Law - McGill University mcgill.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Policy Proposals for PIPEDA Reform to Address Artificial Intelligence Report - Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada priv.gc.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Ignacio Cofone authors policy report for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada | Faculty of Law - McGill University mcgill.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. The Right to be Forgotten: A Canadian and Comparative Perspective - Routledge routledge.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Books — Ignacio Cofone ignaciocofone.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Ignacio Cofone and Omar Farahat promoted and granted tenure | Faculty of Law - McGill University mcgill.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  9. Ignacio Cofone wins Principal’s Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researchers | Faculty of Law - McGill University mcgill.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  10. The Privacy Fallacy - Cambridge University Press cambridge.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  11. Ignacio Cofone — Professor of Law and Regulation of AI | Faculty of Law, University of Oxford law.ox.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  12. Ignacio Cofone appointed Associate Professor in Law and Regulation of AI | Faculty of Law, University of Oxford law.ox.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  13. New Associate Professor in Law and Regulation of AI | Ethics in AI oxford-aiethics.ox.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  14. UNESCO and University of Oxford launch a free global course on AI and Rule of Law unesco.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  15. Faculty of Law co-creates new online course on AI, Justice, and the Rule of Law | Faculty of Law, University of Oxford law.ox.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  16. Ignacio Cofone ignaciocofone.com. Checked 19 October 2026.