Sang Wook Yi studied physics for his first(B.Sc.) and second(M.Sc.) degrees at Seoul National University, South Korea. He finished his PhD in philosophy of science at LSE, University of London. He won the Robert McKenzie Prize with his PhD thesis in 2002.

Professor Yi is now a tenured professor at the department of philosophy with joint appoointment at the department of artificial intelligence. Since 2019 he has been also in charge of HY center for ethical, legal and policiy of science and technology(CELPST). He has been a member of COMEST of UNESCO since 2018, and a vice-chair since 2021. He was the Rapporteur of the Ad Hoc Experts Group for drafting the UNESCO Recommendation of AI Ethics in 2020. He served his presidency for the Korean Society for Philosophy of Science(2021~2023).

Professor Yi’s research interests cover a wide range of topics in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of technology, and STS. He published many papers on these topics, including Climate Ethics, Vienna Circle, Artificial Intelligence, Posthumanism, and Thomas Kuhn. He is currently working on various ethical issues relating to science and technology including AI ethics, biobanks, and pharmacological enhancement.