For 28 years I've worked where advanced technology meets physical consequence, on the engineering problems that carry real risk rather than the incremental ones. AI. Autonomous systems. Safety-critical software in aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and defence. These are the sectors where release pressure meets certification evidence, and where the cost of being wrong is measured in something other than revenue. Working in them requires holding technical depth and strategic breadth at the same time. --- ## Current Work 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 & Research **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/#/); featured contributor to the [HiPEAC Info Magazine](https://www.hipeac.net/news/magazine/#/), most recently in [issue 78](https://www.hipeac.net/files/public/33/7174/hipeacinfo78_web-AnU4Mtce.pdf) on traceability and accountable engineering after the Anthropic vs. US Department of Defense case **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 --- ## Writing & Thinking I write about technology as an institutional and industrial force, not as a product category. My newsletter *[The AI Monitor](https://theaimonitor.substack.com)* reaches 2,500+ technical professionals and policymakers. 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). Cover article for [heise iX](https://www.heise.de/select/ix/2026/6) 06/2026, Europe's largest technical computing magazine: *[The Measurement Gap](https://www.heise.de/select/ix/2026/6/2609809170334426604)*, on why the return on enterprise AI investment stays invisible in economic indicators ([English version](https://theaimonitor.substack.com/p/the-measurement-gap)). 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. --- ## 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: *Trust, but Measure* at the Embedded Software Engineering Kongress (Sindelfingen, December 2026). 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 Published author, international speaker, conference keynote --- ## 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."*