Mark Lenny Gitau
About
I’m currently a Summer Fellow at the Centre for the Governance of AI. I have previously been a Research Scholar at ILINA, working on how law and policy can strengthen the evaluation of AI systems; a Researcher at the University of Cape Town’s African Hub on AI Safety, Peace and Security, where I was part of a team running Africa-centric model safety evaluations; a Fall Research Fellow at the Vista Institute for AI Policy, examining how evaluation evidence can establish developer fault when AI agents cause harm; and a Research Assistant at the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative. I was also a Legal Research Fellow at the Centre for AI Risk Management and Alignment where I contributed to work on whistleblower protections for employees of frontier AI companies and AI evaluation organisations. I hold a law degree from Strathmore University, and I’ll be joining Harvard Law School this fall for my Master of Laws (LL.M.).
For now, I’m based in London.
Research Interests
- Safety Evaluations
- Threat Modelling
- Whistleblowing
- Corporate Governance
- AI Character
- Liability
Research
Policy
- Through CARMA, alongside colleagues at the AI Whistleblower Initiative (AIWI), our work helped catalyse the EU AI Office’s development and launch of a dedicated whistleblower tool/channel in November 2025. Our involvement was limited to providing subject-matter expertise during the communication and policy drafting phases.
- Through CARMA, co-drafted clause-by-clause comments and proposed amendments to the AI Whistleblower Protection Act (H.R. 3460; Obernolte–Lieu), submitted to the offices of U.S. Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and U.S. Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA).
- Through CARMA, co-drafted proposed amendments to the whistleblower provisions of the Great American AI Act discussion draft (Obernolte–Trahan, June 2026), submitted to the offices of U.S. Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and U.S. Representative Lori Trahan (D-MA).
Talks
Honours & Awards
Get in touch
The best way to reach me is email.
mark.gytau@gmail.com · LinkedIn · X · Blog