Sam Illingworth is a Full Professor of Critical AI Literacy at Edinburgh Napier University and the founder of Slow AI, a newsletter and curriculum on knowing when to use AI and when not to, now read by over 16,000 subscribers. He has given expert advice to the Council of Europe and the European Commission, and provided evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee, on AI literacy, human rights, and democratic governance. His work has been cited in UK Government policy papers.

His background is in atmospheric physics - he holds a PhD from the University of Leicester and spent two years in Japan as a Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation scholar - before moving into science communication and the study of AI's effects on education, critical thinking, and public life. He is the author of GenAI in Higher Education (Bloomsbury, 2026) and has published over 125 academic works across science communication, critical pedagogy, and AI ethics.

Sam is also a poet and playwright whose work has been performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and at Green Man festival, and who has written and presented for the BBC.