Panel Discussion

Madeleine Clare Elish is a cultural anthropologist whose work examines the social impacts of AI and automation on society. She recently joined Google as a Senior Research Scientist working on the Ethical AI team. Previously, she co-founded and led the AI on the Ground Initiative at Data & Society Research Institute, which uses social science research to inform future design, use, and governance of automated and AI systems. She has conducted field work across varied industries and communities, ranging from the Air Force, the driverless car industry, and commercial aviation to precision agriculture and emergency healthcare. Her research has been published and cited in scholarly journals as well as publications including The New York Times, Wired, The Guardian, MIT Tech Review, Vice, and USA Today. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University and an S.M. in Comparative Media Studies from MIT.

Alice Xiang is the Head of Fairness, Transparency, and Accountability Research at the Partnership on AI, where she leads and manages a team of interdisciplinary researchers. Core areas of her research include bridging technical and legal approaches to algorithmic bias, assessing explainability techniques in deployment, and examining risk assessment tools. Alice’s work sits at the intersection of social justice and AI; she seeks to tackle the ways in which algorithmic decision-making can further entrench societal biases and inequalities. She has been quoted in Axios, Mercury News, and VentureBeat, among others, for her work on algorithmic bias and transparency, criminal justice risk assessment tools, and the limitations of AI. Prior to joining PAI, Alice worked as an attorney at Gunderson Dettmer, representing startups and venture capital firms. She has also worked in civil appellate litigation at the Department of Justice, econometrics research at the Federal Reserve, and data science at LinkedIn. Alice holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, a Master’s in Development Economics from Oxford, a Master’s in Statistics from Harvard, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard.

Ana-Andreea Stoica is a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University. Her work focuses on mathematical models, data analysis, and inequality in social networks. From recommendation algorithms to the way information spreads in networks, Ana is particularly interested in studying the effect of algorithms on people's sense of privacy, community, and access to information and opportunities. She strives to integrate tools from mathematical models—from graph theory to opinion dynamics—with sociology to gain a deeper understanding of the ethics and implications of technology in our everyday lives. Ana grew up in Bucharest, Romania, and moved to the US for college, where she graduated from Princeton in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics. Since 2019, she has been co-organizing the Mechanism Design for Social Good initiative.

Cat Posey is a Senior Tech Director on the leadership team in the Center for Machine Learning at Capital One, which focuses on research and strategic innovation initiatives in AI/ML, including the development of tools, technologies, frameworks, and partnerships with industry and academia. She leads the Advance ML organization which is accountable for ML applications in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) space, the R&D investment strategy as well as talent pipeline development, ML learning and development and ML awareness and outreach. Cat is passionate about finding ways to shift the current dynamics within tech culture so the community can truly be a microcosm of the world, and a place where all of its members can thrive. She is also focused on developing and implementing AI/ML systems responsibly, and in ways that put humanity at the forefront. Cat founded Tech By Superwomen, a movement she started to shift the conversation to what works and what matters when it comes to creating a more inclusive tech industry. Prior to Capital One, she served as the head of strategic partnerships and alliances for the United States Digital Service, a tech startup founded by President Obama to change the technology infrastructure in order to better serve citizens. Cat is a recognized authority on issues impacting women in technology and an international speaker who has been featured in various national media publications. Link: www.linkedin.com/cathrynposey