I write and research about what happens when AI stops advising people and starts acting in the world, and about how organisations decide that such a system is trustworthy enough to use. That question is not abstract for me. For 28 years I have worked in the sectors where it has to be answered on paper, with evidence, before anything ships: aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and defence. Release pressure meets certification evidence there, and the cost of being wrong is measured in something other than revenue. --- ## Current Research I'm writing *Safe Enough*, a reported nonfiction project in development about who gets to permit AI to act where mistakes can cause physical harm. It follows engineers, executives, and regulators through the situations where AI meets the physical world. The reporting takes me into aerospace certification, hospital procurement, and autonomous vehicle programmes. The question underneath all three is the same: when a model is one component of a larger system, who has earned the standing to declare the whole thing acceptable. I publish from the research as I go, through [The AI Monitor](/newsletter). --- ## Writing I write about technology as an institutional and industrial force, not as a product category. My newsletter *[The AI Monitor](https://theaimonitor.substack.com)* had reached 2,500+ technical professionals and policymakers by July 2026. I co-authored *[Embedded Software Testing: Developing Reliable Software from Fundamentals to AI-based Techniques](https://www.amazon.com/Embedded-Software-Testing-Developing-fundamentals/dp/936589428X)* with Stephan Grünfelder ([BPB Publications](https://bpbonline.com), 2026). I also wrote *[The Measurement Gap](https://www.heise.de/select/ix/2026/6/2609809170334426604)*, the cover article for the June 2026 issue of [heise iX](https://www.heise.de/select/ix/2026/6), a German magazine for IT professionals. It examines why the return on enterprise AI investment stays invisible in economic indicators ([English version](https://theaimonitor.substack.com/p/the-measurement-gap)). --- ## Current Role I am **Head of AI and Principal Strategic Advisor at [QA-Systems](https://qa-systems.com)**, where I focus on how large language models change the economics and safety calculus of testing safety-critical embedded software. In practice that means working where AI capability meets aerospace, medical, and automotive regulatory reality. Before that: embedded systems, aerospace, nuclear. Environments where the cost of a failure is high enough that the process is built around anticipating it. --- ## Advisory & Affiliations **HiPEAC** — Contributing author, [HiPEAC Vision 2025](https://www.hipeac.net/vision/2025/) and [HiPEAC Vision 2026](https://www.hipeac.net/vision/2026/#/) (EU-funded white papers on European computing research priorities, used to guide EU policy and funding decisions) — [acknowledgements](https://www.hipeac.net/vision/2026/acknowledgements/#/). I also wrote *[The safety requirement the US refused](https://www.hipeac.net/news/magazine/7174/hipeacinfo-78/#/)* for HiPEACinfo 78, on the safety-engineering and European compliance implications of the dispute between Anthropic and the US Department of Defense. **TechNexus** — Co-chair of the TechNexus Programme (European technology collaboration) **LSE Executive Education** — Guest lecturer on AI governance and the strategic implications of transformative technology --- ## Speaking I've spoken at [Embedded World](https://www.embedded-world.de) (Nuremberg, 2026), [Embedded Testing 2026](https://pretalx.com/ebedded-testing-26/speaker/UNTDQQ/), [Avionics & Testing Innovations](https://avionicsandtesting-innovations.com/speaker/adam-mackay/) (London, June 2026), [One Young World](https://www.oneyoungworld.com) (Bath, 2025), and [ERTS](https://www.erts-toulouse.fr) (Toulouse, 2024). Co-chaired the [FORECAST for TechNexus](https://www.hipeac.net/events/sessions/8257/forecast-technexus-functional-engineering-domains-supporting-cross-disciplinary/#/) workshop at HiPEAC 2026 (Krakow). Next up: *Who Tests the AI Tester?* at [SafeAI Munich](https://www.safeai-munich.com/programm) on 13 October 2026. On 2 December, I will present *[Trust, but Measure](https://ese-kongress.de/frontend/index.php?day=all&do=15&page_id=53095&ses=46185&v=List)* at the Embedded Software Engineering Kongress in Sindelfingen. My talks focus on AI, autonomous systems, and the safety-critical domains where getting things wrong has real consequences. --- ## Background **MEng** — [University of Bath](https://www.bath.ac.uk) **28 years** working in advanced technology and safety-critical systems Author, researcher, and contributing author to EU computing policy white papers --- ## The Other Side I also write science fiction: longer-form work exploring the futures I spend my days analysing. That lives at [azmackay.com](https://azmackay.com). --- *"I'm not trying to predict the future. I'm trying to understand the forces that make certain futures more likely, and to help people act sensibly inside that uncertainty."*