Technology is changing society faster than our institutions are learning how to govern it.
My work asks what happens when technological capability outpaces human judgment, democratic accountability, and institutional responsibility. I study how governments, universities, companies, and civil society respond as increasingly capable technologies become embedded in the systems that organize public life.
Much of my research focuses on a paradox. Over the past decade, organizations have invested heavily in responsible AI, Trust & Safety, ethics, and AI governance. Yet many of these efforts struggle to produce the institutional transformation they were created to achieve. Rather than reintegrating ethical and political judgment into technological decision-making, they often become absorbed into compliance, implementation, and technical processes. My research examines why that happens—and what it would take to build institutions capable of governing technology differently.
My current work includes an NSF-funded study of the responsible technology workforce, a forthcoming MIT Press book, The Technological Grotesque, research on AI-generated extremism and influence operations, and graduate teaching on AI governance and responsible AI at the University of California, Berkeley.
Beyond academic research, I host Technically Human, a podcast featuring conversations with researchers, policymakers, technologists, founders, and public leaders about the societal implications of emerging technologies. Across these conversations, a common question continues to emerge: how can societies preserve human values while building increasingly powerful technological systems?
I also advise universities, nonprofit organizations, public institutions, foundations, and technology companies on AI governance, institutional strategy, responsible technology, and emerging technology policy.
Biography
- Lecturer, UC Berkeley School of Information
- Founder, Ethical Technology Initiative
- NSF Principal Investigator
- Belfer Fellow, ADL Center for Technology and Society
- Author, The Technological Grotesque (MIT Press, forthcoming)
- Host, Technically Human
Learn more about the Ethical Technology Initiative @ Cal Poly
Subscribe to the Technically Human Podcast on iTunes
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