Joanna Bryson

Professor of Ethics & Technology in the Centre for Digital Governance at Hertie School & Co-Chair of the Committee on AI Governance

  • Expert at the Global Partnership of AI
  • PhD in Artificial Intelligence from MIT
  • Former AI Consultant at LEGO
  • Former Research and Teaching Assistant at MIT
  • Former Postdoctoral Researcher at the Primate Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard University
  • Former Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University
  • Former Advanced Technology External Advisory Council Member with Google

Joanna Bryson is a Professor of Ethics and Technology in the Centre for Digital Governance at Hertie School. A specialist in natural and artificial intelligence, her research focus is on the technological impacts on human cooperative behaviours, including governance, political polarisation, social mobility and economic inequality. An expert on AI transparency, Joanna is also involved in national and transnational governance and is an expert at the Global Partnership of AI and Co-Chair of the committee on AI Governance. An influential figure in AI, she advises governments, NGOs, companies and transnational agencies on AI policy. An eloquent speaker, she shares her expertise on the impact of intelligence on individuals and collectives and delves into ethical, safe and fair AI.

Highly educated, Joanna holds an AB in Behavioral Science from the University of Chicago, an MSc in Artificial Intelligence and an MPhil in Psychology from The University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from MIT. She began her career as a Computer Person with Lawrence Schulman Inc, followed by Computer Person at A M Investors before becoming a Senior Associate at Marble Associates, a high-powered software consultancy. In 1994, Joanna joined LEGO as an AI Consultant, responsible for making AI programming accessible to children. A distinguished academic, Joanna served as a Research Assistant at The Human Communication Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh and a Research and Teaching Assistant at MIT.

In 2001, she became a Postdoctoral Researcher at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Primate Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard University. Pursuing sabbatical research in theoretical biology, Joanna joined the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution & Cognition Research as a Hans Przibram Fellow before becoming a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University, Visting Researcher at Mannheimer Zentrum fur Europaische Sozialforschung and Sabbatical Fellow and Affiliate at the Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University. Moreover, for nearly two decades, she worked at the University of Bath as a Lecturer and Reader, founding the AI Model of Natural Intelligence Group.

An expert in promoting ease and safety of developing AI, Joanna became an Ethics board member with Mindfire Global, an Advanced Technology External Advisory Council Member with Google and a Scientific Board Member of the Task Force on AI and Cybersecurity with the Centre for European Policy Studies. Seeking to integrate AI and robots reasonably and responsibly into society, Joanna is a thought leader on transparent and ethical AI. Now available to hire as a speaker, she delves into governance, ethics and technology policy.

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