Henry De Zoete
Biography
Henry de Zoete is the Director of the UK’s AI Security Institute. He has worked in the government on AI in a variety of roles.
In March 2026 he was appointed as the Investment and AI Adviser in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (March 2026 - August 2026). He served as the Prime Minister’s adviser on AI in 10 Downing Street(2023-2024), where he led the UK’s AI strategy including the establishment of the AI Security Institute and the Bletchley Park Summit. He also served as the UK’s co-lead negotiator for the AI Seoul Summit in 2024.
He is a Non-Executive Director of Oak National Academy (an arm’s-length body of the Department for Education) and a Visiting Fellow at both the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
A tech entrepreneur and angel investor, he co-founded Look After My Bills in 2018, an auto-switching service that saved families money on their energy bills. After raising investment from renowned Silicon Valley investor Y Combinator and securing the best deal in the history of the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, the company was acquired by GoCo Group PLC (owners of GoCompare) in 2019. He has since angel invested in over a hundred start-ups.
His wider government experience includes serving on the Department of Health and Social Care’s data and technology working group for the 10 Year Health Plan (2024-2025), as a special adviser in the Department for Education (2010-2013) and as a Non-Executive Board Member at the Cabinet Office (2020-2024). He served on the board of Hornby PLC (2022-2023) and 38 Degrees (2015-2018).
Previous roles in government
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Adviser to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister on Artificial Intelligence
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Non-Executive Board Member