David Eliot’s story begins in Kingston, Ontario, where he was raised in a family of computer scientists. Despite his tech-centric upbringing, David chose a different path, studying sociology at university. He thought he had distanced himself from the family business, but fate had other plans.

In 2019, David saw a demonstration of GPT-2 and was immediately struck by its potential to revolutionize society. This moment sparked a passion that led him to secure a grant for independent summer research at St. Francis Xavier University. Throughout that summer, David delved into the technical and social dimensions of AI, culminating in an undergraduate thesis on the social impacts of generative AI. His work earned him the Canadian Sociological Association’s “Outstanding Graduate Award” and saw an abridged version of his thesis published by Manchester University Press.

David’s journey continued at Queen’s University, where he pursued a Master’s degree under the guidance of Canadian Research Chair David Murakami Wood at the Surveillance Studies Center (SSC). He spearheaded and worked on various projects, producing popular press articles, academic papers, and policy research. His efforts were recognized with the Arthur B. Macdonald Award for Academic Excellence, another “Outstanding Graduate Award” from the Canadian Sociological Association, and a board position at the SSC.

In 2022, David’s leadership and academic excellence were further acknowledged when he was named a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation PhD Scholar.

Now at the University of Ottawa, he continues to conduct PhD research under David Murakami Wood, focusing on the development of data economies and their impact on AI, politics, and social groups. He explores how regulatory regimes shape data economies to foster AI development while navigating citizen rights regarding data.

Outside of academia, he is a fierce advocate for the rights of people with learning disabilities; a cause close to his heart, as David himself is dyslexic.