PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Tabitha Goldstaub

Tabitha Goldstaub is a British tech entrepreneur who helped found the CogX festival on artificial intelligence and chaired the UK government's AI Council. She co-founded the video distribution company Rightster in 2011, and in 2017 she and Charlie Muirhead launched the first CogX. In 2018 she was named head of the AI Council and won the Women's Engineering Society's Amy Johnson Inspiration Award; she wrote How to Talk to Robots in 2021 and received an MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours. Innovate Cambridge named her its Executive Director in December 2022. She is a co-founder of Lichen AI, a company that builds an AI ethnographer.

Now at
Lichen AI
Badges

Timeline

  1. 2011–2013

    Co-founding Rightster

    After an Art Foundation in graphic design at Wimbledon College of Arts and a bachelor's degree in advertising at the University of the Arts London, she becomes Director of Video Syndication at the online television network t5m. In 2011, she co-founds the video distribution company Rightster, now Brave Bison, with Charlie Muirhead, and it floats in November 2013 for £20.4 million.

  2. 2017

    Launching the CogX festival

    A co-founder of the CognitionX expert advice platform, she founds the CogX festival with Charlie Muirhead and arranges its first edition in June 2017: a two-day innovation exchange for 1,500 delegates on how AI will shape society. CogX 2018 draws 6,500 attendees and over 370 speakers at Tobacco Dock.

  3. June 2018

    Chair of the AI Council

    In June 2018, Secretary of State Matt Hancock names her head of the UK government's AI Council, part of the new Office for Artificial Intelligence, and its AI Business Champion. When the government announces the council's members in May 2019, she chairs it and has oversight of how it advises government on business use of AI.

  4. 2018

    Amy Johnson Inspiration Award

    In October 2018, the Women's Engineering Society awards her its Amy Johnson Inspiration Award for using her visible roles with government and the London mayor's office to promote diversity in tech.

  5. 2021

    Writing How to Talk to Robots

    In 2021, she writes How to Talk to Robots: A Girls' Guide to a Future Dominated by AI.

  6. 2022

    MBE and the Luminate board

    She is appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to the AI sector. She leaves CognitionX in 2022 and joins the board of directors of Luminate, where her work ensures Big Tech, social platforms and AI companies respect human rights and social justice.

  7. December 2022

    Executive Director of Innovate Cambridge

    Innovate Cambridge names her its Executive Director in December 2022. The initiative, launched in September 2022 by the University of Cambridge, Cambridge Enterprise and Cambridge Innovation Capital, sets out to create an inclusive vision for the future of Cambridge and its innovation ecosystem, and 100 organisations sign its charter.

  8. Since July 2025

    Co-founding Lichen AI

    In July 2025, she launches Lichen AI with Diana Robinson and Catherine Breslin. She is a co-founder of the company, which works on enhancing and automating requirements capture and builds an AI ethnographer that maps the unspoken knowledge in an organisation.

Career

  1. Since 2025Lichen AICo-founder
  2. Until 2022CognitionXCo-founder
  3. From 2022LuminateBoard Director
  4. From 2022Innovate CambridgeExecutive Director
  5. 2018–2019Office for Artificial IntelligenceHead and AI Business Champion, Chair
  6. 2011–2013RightsterCo-founder
  7. t5mDirector of Video Syndication

Education

  1. University of the Arts LondonBachelor's degree

From the biography.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIWe estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birthWe estimate that 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birth (520 of 1,198 people with known birth and employment countries).
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionWe estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Tabitha Goldstaub yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Tabitha Goldstaub - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. CogX Festival - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Leading experts appointed to AI Council to supercharge the UK's artificial intelligence sector - GOV.UK gov.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Amy Johnson Inspiration Award - Women's Engineering Society wes.org.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Tabitha Goldstaub - Centre for Science and Policy csap.cam.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. New initiative to promote innovation in the Greater Cambridge area | University of Cambridge cam.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Tabitha Goldstaub - Bennett School of Public Policy bennettschool.cam.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. July Roundup - by Catherine Breslin - AI x Insights aixinsights.substack.com. Checked 20 October 2026.