Impact & Recognition

Researcher Profile

Burak Oktenli is a policy-oriented researcher focused on the governance of autonomous and AI-enabled systems in defense, critical infrastructure, and other safety-critical domains. His work examines a recurring question across these settings: when an automated system acts faster than a person can intervene, under whose authority did it act, and who is accountable for the result. He develops public-source analysis and technical governance frameworks that treat authority, accountability, and auditability as design requirements rather than afterthoughts. His research includes seven governance architectures addressing sensor trust, human-machine authority, escalation risk, and recovery, several of which are formally specified and machine-verified. He has published commentary with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and other defense outlets, and his work has been cited in the United States Federal Register and in academic research. He contributes to standards discussion as a stakeholder participant in a NIST AI Risk Management Framework community of interest. He holds an MBA and is completing a Master of Professional Studies in Applied Intelligence at Georgetown University. He works independently and is not affiliated with, nor does he represent, any government agency or intergovernmental body.

Policy Focus Areas

Selected Publications and Policy-Relevant Work

These commentaries draw on a broader body of governance research, including seven governance architectures and 36 open-access works (20 Zenodo DOIs and 16 SSRN working papers). The complete catalogue is on the Publications page.

Third-Party Citations and External References

Source links and the full record are on the Citations and Recognition page.

The Governance Gap

As autonomous and AI-enabled systems take on time-critical decisions in defense and critical infrastructure, a gap is opening between what these systems can do and the frameworks meant to hold them accountable. When a system acts faster than a person can intervene, existing oversight models struggle with a basic question: under whose authority did it act, and who is responsible for the outcome? Closing that gap means separating evidence-based risks from speculation and defining clear criteria for bounded authority, accountability, and auditable control. These are the questions this research examines.

Credibility and Evidence

This research is built on public and openly available sources, credible institutional and government reports, and peer-reviewed literature where available. Assumptions are stated, confidence levels are noted, and claims are verifiable through the cited sources. The work does not rely on, claim, or imply access to classified information, and it has not been reviewed or endorsed by any government agency.

Contact

Inquiries: info@burakoktenli.com