TECHNOLOGY + AI

Dr. Safiya U. Noble is the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences and Professor of Gender Studies, African American Studies, and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the Director of the Center on Race & Digital Justice and Co-Director of the Minderoo Initiative on Tech & Power at the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2).  She currently serves as Interim Director of the UCLA DataX Initiative, leading work in critical data studies for the campus. Professor Noble is the author of the best-selling book on racist and sexist algorithmic harm in commercial search engines, entitled Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press), which has been widely-reviewed in scholarly and popular publications. In 2021, she was recognized as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for her ground-breaking work on algorithmic discrimination. 

Siva Vaidhyanathan speaks on the impact of digitalization on society and democracy. In his speeches, he encourages audiences to consider how technology like Google and social media shape the way we think, and what we can do to foster a new Internet ecosystem designed to benefit the whole world. He is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues on public radio shows and news programs, notably BBC, CNN and NBC. Siva has authored several books, including Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2018). His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and The Nation.

Allissa V. Richardson, PhD is an assistant professor of journalism at USC Annenberg. She researches how African Americans use mobile and social media to produce innovative forms of journalism — especially in times of crisis. Richardson is the author of Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest #Journalism (Oxford University Press, 2020). Richardson’s research is informed by her award-winning work as a journalism innovator. She is considered a pioneer in mobile journalism (MOJO), having launched the world’s first smartphone-only college newsrooms in 2010, in the U.S., Morocco and South Africa.

Andrea Freeman is a national and international expert on the intersections of race and food policy, health, and consumer credit. An acclaimed author of two books, she is currently at work on a new project about the intersection of consumer credit, policy, and technology. Freeman is a professor at Southwestern Law School and was awarded the endowed Second Century Chair for her impactful contributions to legal education and scholarship. She has served on the Litigation Committee of the Hawaii chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, as a Fulbright King's College London U.S. Scholar, and a Vermont Law School Distinguished Scholar of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. Her work has been featured in publications including the Washington Post, New Yorker, USA Today, The Atlantic, and she has done interviews with news outlets and programs including CBS News and PBS News Hour.