Paul Dixon
I am currently undertaking a Research PhD in the Philosophy of AI at King’s College, London under Dr. Adrian Alsmith and Professor David Papineau.
I have an MA in Philosophy of AI from Northeastern University (2025) and an MSc in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences at LSE (2020). Prior to that, I spent thirty years working in global financial markets. Before that, I received an BA (MA, Hons.) in Economics from the University of Cambridge (1987).
I am also a non-executive director at Clara-Pensions Group Limited, and a Trustee of the Lazard Directors’ Pension Scheme.
Philosophical interests
My current interests lie in the Philosophy of AI. Do LLMs ‘understand’ or produce knowledge? Are LLMs ‘thinking’? What conditions, if any, would mean that we owe an AI system some degree of moral status?
Business Career
After graduating in 1987 from Cambridge University with an BA (MA) in Economics, I traded and managed financial derivative products in both Fixed Income and Equities at Chemical Bank (now JP Morgan), and Merrill Lynch. I also held senior roles in Global Financial Risk Management and in FinTech.
In 2004 I moved into Asset Management, where I managed assets and financial risk for Pearl Assurance, now Phoenix Group. Most recently I was Chief Investment Officer at Guardian Assurance, with responsibility for £17 billion of assets. I am currently a Director of Clara Pensions (£1.3bn AuM).
Other Interests
I enjoy tennis, golf, cycling, music, playing the piano slowly, and reading more philosophy.