Hi, I'm a human rights and public policy expert working on data and Artificial Intelligence issues. I focus on government surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, welfare automation and tech equity & justice.
I am currently Head of the Algorithmic Accountability Lab and a Deputy Director at Amnesty Tech. My team and I research, investigate and campaign on the increasing use of algorithmic systems in welfare provision and social security, and their harms on marginalised communities around the world.Previously, I was Senior Policy Advisor at the Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation, an independent expert committee in the UK government working on the ethical challenges in data and AI policy. I was also the UK expert at the Council of Europe's Policy Development Group on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights.I have a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. In 2018, I was a Google Public Policy Fellow at Engine Advocacy in Washington D.C., working on tech policy issues affecting entrepreneurs in the U.S. including net neutrality, encryption laws, copyright and content moderation. I was also a Global Policy Fellow at the Institute for Technology & Society in Rio de Janeiro, where I researched the implications of assigning property rights to personal data (often called 'data ownership') and have presented this work at a multiple conferences (see below).I started out my career in the Bay Area working in tech & international development where I saw first-hand the pervasive use of online targetted advertising and increasingly intrusive state access to personal and non-personal data to make policy decisions. I felt strongly that data-intensive systems and technologies were unjustifiably being deployed and exacerbating historic systems which either over-surveilled or systemically undocumented marginalised communities. I believed there was an urgent need to further mobilise around the human rights implications of data-driven technologies and I pivoted my career to policy and regulation.I love speaking to others working in tech and human rights, and especially those looking at algorithmic discrimination! Please get in touch if you'd like to chat.
Public Writing & Media
"Protecting Society from AI's Harms", Me, Myself & AI Podcast, MIT Sloan School of Management, August 2023, Podcast Guest
“Police are unlawfully storing personal data of suspects who were cleared”, Open Democracy, August 2023, Media Quote
“Opinion: An Internet that Women Want? It looks like this” CNN, April 2023, Author
“In Ukraine, identifying the dead comes at a human rights cost”, WIRED, February 2023, Media Quote
“Documents Reveal Advanced AI Tools Google is selling to Israel”, The Intercept, July 2022, Media Quote
“AI and Human Rights. Building a Tech Future Aligned with the Public Interest”, All Tech is Human, Interview/ Individual Profile.
"The EU is Coming for Your Memes", Columbia Public Policy Review, reviewed by Cory Doctorow, December 2018, Author
"Section 230 Protects All Voices Online, Even Conservative Ones", Engine Advocacy, August 2018, Author
"The US Needs More Foreign Entrepreneurs, Not Fewer", Engine Advocacy, June 2018, Author
"Article 13 Threatens Internet Platforms Around the World", Engine Advocacy, June 2018, AuthorPanellist/Speaking Engagements
University of Cambridge, Minderoo Center for Technology and Democracy, “How are New Technologies Impacting Human Rights”, May 2023
Humboldt Academia in Society Summit, Berlin, “Facing the AI Revolution”, June 2022
Algorithmic Fairness for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (AFAR), Hertie School, Berlin, “Algorithms as Borders: The Reproduction and Proliferation of Borders in the Welfare State”, May 2022
UNIDIR, "Does Military AI have Gender?" - available on YouTube, December 2021
University College Dublin - Centre for Digital Policy, "Digital Sovereignty and Digital Citizenship Workshop", June 2021Board, Advisory & Peer Review Positions
Fairness, Accountability and Transparency (FAccT)
Steering Committee Member
Peer review for “Lost in Translation: Large Language Models in Non-English Content Analysis”,
Center for Democracy & Technology
Expert input for “Better, Broader, Safer: Using Health Data for Research and Analysis” , review commissioned by UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
University College Dublin, Centre for Digital Policy - Advisory Board (Independent Capacity)
UK's National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online - Peer Review (Independent Capacity)Moderator/Facilitator:
- "Designing for marginalised and forgotten communities," Response-ability Summit 2021 (moderator)
- "Bias in algorithmic decision-making: perspectives and approaches," RightsCon 2021 (lead facilitator)Fellowships
Google Public Policy Fellow at Engine Advocacy, 2018
Global Policy Fellow at Instituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade/Institute of Technology and Society, BrazilConferences and Presentations
Independent Research: "Reclaiming Data Autonomy in an Age of Digital Platforms: Why data 'ownership' is a myth." Presented at;
- Data Justice Conference, Cardiff University, May 2021
- Bread & Net, Beirut, November 2019
- ITS International School of Law and Technology, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, July 2019