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Reorienting AI For Public Interest
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| With Catherine Bracy (Founder/CEO, TechEquity), Janet Haven (Dir., Data & Society), Charlton McIlwain (Vice Provost, NYU). |
| Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, 455 Fifth Ave |
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Oct 29 (Wed) , 2025 @ 06:30 PM
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FREE |
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| DETAILS |
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Data & Society Executive Director Janet Haven hosts a critical discussion about AI accountability & the public interest, featuring professor Charlton McIlwain, journalist Julia Angwin, & civic technologist Catherine Bracy.
This event will take place online & in person at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on the 7th Floor
The concentration of power & lack of regulation in the technology industry directly shapes how AI is designed & deployed, & whose interests it serves. That means decisions about these tools often reflect corporate priorities over public benefits. While AI is often held up as a tool to increase efficiency, it is essential to ask: efficiency for whom, & at what cost? What would it mean to create & oversee AI in the public's best interest? How could these technologies be made more accountable to the people & communities they affect? And what is needed to create a future where AI works for everyone?
To join the event in person | Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, & seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.
To join the event online | Whether you're attending in person or online, you must register with your email address.The Zoom link will be sent to you by email approximately one day before the event. You will need a device with audio and/or video & an internet/cellular connection to join.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Janet Haven is the executive director of Data & Society. She has worked at the intersection of technology policy, governance, & accountability for more than twenty years, both domestically & internationally. From 2022 to 2025, Janet served on the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC), which advises the National AI Initiative Office & the executive branch on a range of issues related to artificial intelligence, & chaired the Rights, Trust, & Safety working group.
Julia Angwin is an award-winning investigative journalist, a bestselling author, a New York Times contributing Opinion writer & a Walter Shorenstein Media & Democracy Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, & Public Policy. She is the founder of Proof News, a nonprofit journalism studio that launched in 2024.
Catherine Bracy is a civic technologist & community organizer whose work focuses on the intersection of technology & political & economic inequality. She is the founder & CEO of TechEquity & the author of World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy. She was previously Code for America's Senior Director of Partnerships & Ecosystem & Director of Obama for America's Technology Field Office in San Francisco. She is on the board of directors at the Data & Society Research Institute & the Terner Housing Lab.
Dr. Charlton McIlwain is Vice Provost for Faculty Development, Pathways & Public Interest Technology at New York University, where he is also Professor of Media, Culture, & Communication. He is the author of Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, From the Afronet to Black Lives Matter & the recent PolicyLink report Algorithmic Discrimination: A Framework & Approach to Auditing & Measuring the Impact of Race-Targeted Digital Advertising. McIlwain is the founder of the Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies, & is Board President at Data & Society Research Institute.
COMING UP in Understanding AI
Part IV: Standing Up for Human Value in the AI Economy | November 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM
REGISTER | In this closing session, D&S Labor Futures Program Director Aiha Nguyen talks with AI Now Institute Co-Executive Director Amba Kak, Michelle Miller, Director of Innovation at the Center for Labor & a Just Economy, & Writers Guild of America East Executive Director Sam Wheeler about the value of human labor in increasingly automated workplaces.
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