Dr Keith Dear
Keith is CEO & Founder of AI strategy start-up Cassi.
Previously an Expert Adviser to the Prime Minister on Science, Technology, Space, and Modernising Defence, and an Intelligence Officer in the RAF. He has served in Iraq, completed three deployments to Afghanistan, deployed to Abkhazia (Georgia) with the United Nations, to Mali alongside the French, and served as the Russian Air Force SME on exchange with the US Air Force. He continues his service as a Group Captain with 601 (Reserve) Squadron, leading on science, technology, and academic liaison.
During four years at Fujitsu, Keith developed, launched, and led the £22M Centre for Cognitive Technologies, driving new product and service development across information fusion, digital twins, collective intelligence, neurosymbolic AI, computer vision, quantum computing, high-performance/supercomputing, and ecosystem go-to-market, incubation, and acceleration. He worked extensively on UK-Japan strategic technology collaboration at the highest levels of government and across the private sectors of both countries.
Keith holds a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford, an Executive MBA from the University of Cambridge, an MA (with distinction) from King’s College London, and a BA (Hons) from Lancaster University. In 2023, he won an award for essays across macroeconomics, marketing, innovation, strategic management, corporate governance, and ethics from the University of Cambridge.
Keith is Director’s Fellow at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Fellow of the Changing Character of War Programme at the University of Oxford, a Chief of the Air Staff’s Fellow with the Royal Air Force, and an Honorary Associate Research Fellow at the Exeter University Strategic Studies Institute.
In 2024, Keith was selected to join the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research’s Roundtable for AI, Security, and Ethics (RAISE) initiative, exploring how to protect humanity from AI-related risks.
Find him at Substack, or X / @kpd_musing. For public speaking or media engagements, contact https://harveythorneycroft.co.uk/contact-us/
Select publications
- Dear, K.P., 2013. Beheading the Hydra? Does killing terrorist or insurgent leaders work?. Defence Studies, 13(3), pp.293-337.
- Hetherington, John, and Keith Dear. “Assessing Assessments: How Useful Is Predictive Intelligence?” American Intelligence Journal 34, no. 1 (2017): 116–22. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26497126.
- Dear, K., 2019. Artificial intelligence and decision-making. The RUSI Journal, 164(5-6), pp.18-25.
- Dear, K. 2019. More Science, Less Art: Big Data, The Information Revolution and Decision-Making in the Royal Air Force. Air Power Review, 22, 76-89.
- Dear, K. 2019. Will Russia Rule the World Through AI? Assessing Putin’s Rhetoric Against Russia’s Reality. The RUSI Journal, 164, 36-60.
- Dear, K., 2021. Artificial intelligence, security, and society. In The World Information War (pp. 231-255). Routledge.
- Dear, K., 2022. Beyond the ‘geo’in geopolitics: The digital transformation of power. The RUSI journal, 166(6-7), pp.20-31.
- Dear, K., 2024. In Athena’s Arms: War, Wisdom & AGI in the U.K. Defence Review. CassiAI Substack, 14 Oct. Available at: https://cassiai.substack.com/p/defence-and-artificial-general-intelligence
- Dear, K., 2024. Faustian Bargain 2.0: Life Under the Machine. CassiAI Substack, 29 Oct. Available at: https://cassiai.substack.com/p/faustian-bargain-20-life-under-the
- Dear, K., 2025. Doctor Weirdlove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love AGI. CassiAI Substack, 9 May. Available at: https://cassiai.substack.com/p/doctor-weirdlove-or-how-i-stopped
Select awards
- 2021. Selected as Fujitsu Global Distinguished Engineer in Artificial Intelligence.
- 2019. Named one of ‘the most relevant voices in European Tech’ at the Big Things Conference.
- 2016. Chief of Air Staff’s Fellows Award to the RAF officer making the greatest contribution to Air Power thought.
- 2011. O’Dwyer Russell Prize for the highest MA Grade at King’s College London.
Further links
Blog: https://cassiai.substack.com
Company website: https://www.cassi-ai.com
