Boxi (bor-shi) is a doctoral researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, funded by the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership and the Balliol College Dervorguilla Scholarship. Their research investigates how the geopolitics of AI infrastructures shapes local political and cultural transformations. They are jointly supervised by Professor Victoria Nash and Dr Ana Valdivia.
At the OII, Boxi co-convenes the Oxford Digital Ethnography Group (OxDEG) and is currently a member of the Oxford-Aalto University Digital Economic Security Lab (DIESL) where they worked as a Researcher on the Political Geography of AI Infrastructure project with Professor Vili Lehdonvirta. In previous research, Boxi has published on the ethics and governance of AI and digital infrastructure in Review of International Political Economy, Big Data & Society, Philosophy & Technology, ACM Fairness, Accountability & Transparency and AAAI/ACM AI, Ethics & Society. They have current and past AI policy collaborations with the OECD’s AI Policy Observatory (OECD.AI), The AI Now Institute, FES Future of Work, the Oxford Martin School, the Centre for the Governance of AI, and Think20. Boxi’s research and expert insights have been featured in Jacobin, Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Economist and Forbes.
Prior to returning to academia, Boxi worked in AI ethics, technology consulting and policy research. Most recently, they worked in AI Ethics & Safety at Google DeepMind, where they specialised in the ethics of LLMs and led the responsible release of frontier AI models, including the initially released Gemini models.
Boxi holds an MSc in Social Science of the Internet (OII), an MA in Urban Planning (University of Melbourne) and a BA in Political Science and International Relations (University of Western Australia). Outside of academia they are a community organiser with ESEA Green Lions, a UK collective working to build community and connection with issues of climate justice within the East and Southeast Asian community from a decolonial and anti-racist perspective.
Digital Infrastructure, Science and Technology Studies (STS), Infrastructure Studies, Critical Data Centre Studies, AI Ethics, AI Governance, Climate Justice.
This project aims to map where in the world the data centers that make up the computational infrastructure of AI research are located and who owns them. It will also investigate government policies aimed at shaping this geography.
OxDEG, the Oxford Digital Ethnography Group, comprises students and faculty members from Oxford University who discuss and share ideas about the evolution of ethnography in a heavily mediated world.
11 April 2025
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 OII MSc Thesis Prizes. These prizes recognize outstanding work and contributions to the field.
Jacobin, 20 June 2024
While the mass adoption of AI has transformed digital life seemingly overnight, regulators have fallen asleep on the job in curtailing AI data centers’ drain on energy and water resources, with commentary from OII researcher Boxi Wu.
The Economist, 08 October 2024
Amid an explosive data and AI boom the superpower contest hots up, with commentary from OII researcher
Forbes, 17 April 2025
Article explores how loud computing has changed the status of network hardware like servers and data storage from a common asset of organizations or companies to a type of infrastructure, with commentary from OII researcher Boxi Wu.
Senior Policy Fellow, Associate Professor
Associate Professor and Senior Policy Fellow. Her research focuses on the opportunities and risks experienced by children using digital technologies; she also leads OII engagement on Internet regulation and digital policy issues.
Lecturer in AI, Government & Policy
Ana Valdivia is an interdisciplinary scholar interested in the sociotechnical aspects of AI. Her current research explores the environmental impacts of AI supply chains by combining computational and ethnographic methodologies.
