This is exactly the kind of challenge All Tech Is Human was designed to tackle - and it's one we'll be addressing head-on at our upcoming Responsible Tech Summit, held just days before the US midterm elections at the New York Times Center in Manhattan (with free virtual engagement for remote attendees). And for those of you in NYC next week for the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly, we’ll be exploring the tech futures we want (along with what would be dystopian) at a special tech comedy event held in partnership with Siegel Family Endowment.

But while much of the media gets in a tizzy about the probability of human extinction, we’re heavily focused on the very real and current disruptions from social media and AI. That’s why we’re thrilled to release a new white paper today called Two Views of the Same Transformation: AI Adoption, Invisible Work, and the Human Side of Organizational Change. Based on two recent workshops, this white paper examines how rapid AI adoption is transforming workplaces and focuses on the contrasting perspectives of mid-level professionals and executives. The paper reveals that technical implementation may be outpacing organizational adaptation while creating often unrecognized, invisible labor.

Download the white paper!

Our white paper was done in collaboration with the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab and led by ATIH Braintrust member Jen Weedon. A big thank you to co-directors Sara Berger (IBM) and Megan McDermott (Notre Dame) for initiating this project, along with the contributions of Sazza Richards, Jenn Louie, Rose Guingrich, Marisa Zalabak, Jun Young Ro, Jenna Murdoch, and Nethra Viswanathan.

Several compelling and sometimes counter-intuitive storylines emerged. By asking mid-level professionals and executives mirrored questions, our paper surfaces important disconnects in how AI adoption is understood and experienced across organizational levels.

1. The Rise of “Invisible Labor” and “Babysitting Slop”
   Knowledge workers reported spending increasing amounts of time checking AI outputs for hallucinations, compliance, tone, and accuracy, with some mid-level workers describing this work as “babysitting AI slop,” and deeply demotivating. According to participants, the labor of validating AI outputs can rival or exceed the work the technologies were intended to augment or replace, but rarely factors into how senior leadership assesses the costs or benefits of AI adoption.

   The research also surfaces a broader category of unmeasured “glue work” required to make AI adoption function in practice: training employees, managing workforce anxiety, coordinating ad hoc task forces, and translating generic AI strategies into daily workflows that reflect teams’ actual needs. Like validation work, this labor is seldom accounted for in job responsibilities, performance measures, or assessments of AI’s efficiency gains.

2. Metric Misalignment: “Token Maxxing” vs. Actual Value

   Organizations may be measuring what AI “produces” while failing to account for the work required to make those outputs usable. Participants described environments in which greater AI use translated quickly into higher output expectations and compressed timelines, even as validation and quality control work expanded and perceptions of work quality declined. For mid-level participants, this gap between measured “productivity” and lived workload carried a significant emotional toll, surfacing as burnout, anxiety, loss of professional identity, and organizational disillusionment.

3. The Middle Management Paradox
   The white paper suggests that mid-level workers are performing much of the human coordination, translation, and quality control work that is critical to making AI adoption function in practice. Yet while some executives saw middle management as the layer that is ripe for flattening through AI efficiencies, they also expressed concern over the long-term implications of “distributed deskilling” (such as the loss of mentorship, institutional wisdom, and knowledge transfer). This creates a notable paradox, where organizations may be considering eliminating the very roles currently performing the work they are simultaneously worried about losing.

Download the white paper

Coverage from Notre Dame

👋Would you like to do a workshop and whitepaper with All Tech Is Human? Reach out and learn more.

🗓️Calendar of Activities

September 17:

Join our livestream where we speak with Beth Simone Noveck, author of Reboot Democracy in the Age of AI. Will AI tighten the grip of power? Or will it help rebuild public institutions that work for people? Reboot offers a bold and practical playbook for tipping the balance in favor of democracy.

September 17:

Join us in NYC for a special conversation with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer, authors of On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. If you are focused on technology’s impact on democracy, you won’t want to miss this.

September 22:

A special tech comedy show and community gathering!

There are lots of events during UNGA, but only one tech comedy gathering for the Responsible Tech community! Featuring stand-up from Chuck Nice and Pratima Mani; a freewheeling panel with our comedians alongside noted media theorist and bestselling author Douglas Rushkoff, and Siegel Family Endowment’s Executive Director and President Katy Knight; an audience feedback session led by the Stanford d.school’s Laura McBain, Marc Chun, and Sam Seidel; a look into the submitted quotes; and ample time to connect with others. The evening will be emceed by ATIH’s David Ryan Polgar and will be filmed.

Apply to attend in NYC

October 8:

How did we get from the early optimism of the internet to a world where technology companies sit at the center of debates over elections, free speech, misinformation, and democracy? Join our livestream with Katie Harbath, author of the upcoming Disrupting Politics: Technology, Democracy, and What Comes Next.

October 13:

The next version of our Responsible Tech Guide will be released. Submit your ideas here.

October 28:

Two pre-summit gatherings will be held ahead of the main event:

• Columbia University: Can Local Momentum Become National Tech Policy, in partnership with Columbia World Projects

• Consulate General of Canada in New York: Building Safer Social Media: Youth Voices, Civil Liberties, and Democratic Governance, in partnership with the consulate and Dialogue on Technology Project

October 29:

Responsible Tech Summit (virtual and in-person attendance)

Given all of the discussions happening on the importance of social media and AI on the future of democracy and the human condition, you’ll want to attend (or tune into) our Responsible Tech Summit on October 29 at The Times Center in Manhattan.

Register for the Responsible Tech Summit

Can’t make any of these? There are also four upcoming ATIHx gatherings! ATIHx is our new program for independently organized community gatherings that leverage our community and tools to bring people together for localized conversations. Find upcoming ATIHx gatherings happening in Washington, DC, Denver/Boulder, the Twin Cities, and Chicago. Would you like to start your own? Reach out to us.

Did you miss our last livestream? Watch below.

We recently welcomed Jeffrey S. Collins (Trust & Safety at AWS) to our livestream series, where he was joined by Melanie Quandt (Highspring Senior Director of Partnerships) and ATIH Executive Director Sherine Kazim for a conversation on navigating career growth in Trust & Safety and Responsible AI.

Jeff shared his own career trajectory spanning law, foreign service diplomacy, human rights, energy, and working for a large social media company. He highlighted the art of pivoting, emphasizing that career transitions rely on core principles, continuous curiosity, persistence, and building upon prior experiences rather than resetting completely. There were a lot of great questions submitted by participants, so we did a follow-up article with Jeff’s additional responses.

Career insights and advice

Additional resources:

• Responsible Tech Job Board

• Responsible Tech Talent Pool

• Responsible Tech Guide (older version; new version Oct 13)

Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

One of the biggest struggles we hear over and over again, especially from philanthropy, is ensuring that those impacted by technology are actively involved in shaping its future. While there are numerous conferences in major cities across the globe, there is often a gulf between what is being discussed (and felt) among traditional power structures versus the grassroots.

This is a major problem: what it means is that those in positions of power to shape the future are insulated from what the diversity of the general public feels about tech & society issues.

And you can’t understand a pain point if you are not surrounded by others’ pain.

That’s always been our North Star here at All Tech Is Human, which is why our Slack community (and community at large) ranges from students to the C-suite, so we can both understand and shape the Responsible Tech ecosystem. That’s also the inspiration and logic behind our ATIHx program: independently organized gatherings hosted by ATIH community members that are popping up all over the globe. This localizes the conversations while uniting them to the broader power and collective knowledge of All Tech Is Human.

There are upcoming ATIHx gatherings happening in Washington, DC, Denver/Boulder, and the Twin Cities. ATIHx has also recently held gatherings in Philadelphia, Oakland, and Barcelona. And there are discussions for new groups in Chicago, Charlotte, and more.

Learn about ATIHx and start a chapter!

🗓️Calendar of Activities

TODAY, September 10:

Join our livestream (Leaders’ Perspectives: Advice & Insights into Hiring Practices and Priorities) where Sherine Kazim (Executive Director of All Tech Is Human) will be joined by Melanie Quandt (Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships at Highspring) and Jeffrey S. Collins (Director of Trust & Safety, Amazon Web Services) to explore trends from the hiring side for Responsible AI and Trust & Safety roles.

September 15:

In partnership with the University of Notre Dame and IBM (Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab), we will be releasing a whitepaper authored by Jen Weedon (ATIH Braintrust member) that explores how AI is affecting the human side of work (stemming from two recent workshops).

📜Read our latest whitepaper, Building Inter-party Trust in AI (in collaboration with Mastercard).

👋Would you like to do a workshop and whitepaper with All Tech Is Human? Reach out and learn more.

September 17:

Join our livestream where we speak with Beth Simone Noveck, author of Reboot Democracy in the Age of AI. Will AI tighten the grip of power? Or will it help rebuild public institutions that work for people? Reboot offers a bold and practical playbook for tipping the balance in favor of democracy.

September 17:

Join us in NYC for a special conversation with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer, authors of On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. If you are focused on technology’s impact on democracy, you won’t want to miss this.

September 22: a special tech comedy show and community gathering!

As mentioned in our last newsletter, we’re taking a deep dive into the central question: What’s one weird, unusual, or unexpected way that AI is altering your life?

We’ve lined up a memorable evening (which will be filmed), featuring stand-up from Chuck Nice and Pratima Mani; a freewheeling panel with our comedians alongside noted media theorist and bestselling author Douglas Rushkoff, and Siegel Family Endowment’s Executive Director and President Katy Knight; an audience feedback session led by the Stanford d.school’s Laura McBain, Marc Chun, and Sam Seidel; a look into the submitted quotes; and ample time to connect with others. The evening will be emceed by ATIH’s David Ryan Polgar.

Submit a quote and/or request attendance

October 8:

How did we get from the early optimism of the internet to a world where technology companies sit at the center of debates over elections, free speech, misinformation, and democracy? Join our livestream with Katie Harbath, author of the upcoming Disrupting Politics: Technology, Democracy, and What Comes Next.

October 13:

The next version of our Responsible Tech Guide will be released. Do you have individuals, organizations, or ideas that you think should be highlighted? Submit your ideas here.

October 28:

Two pre-summit gatherings will be held ahead of the main event:

• Columbia University: Can Local Momentum Become National Tech Policy, in partnership with Columbia World Projects

• Consulate General of Canada in New York: Building Safer Social Media: Youth Voices, Civil Liberties, and Democratic Governance, in partnership with the consulate and Dialogue on Technology Project

October 29: Responsible Tech Summit (virtual and in-person attendance)

Responsible Tech Summit 2026. From Principles to Power: Embedding Accountability in the AI Era, taking place at The Times Center in Manhattan with free virtual attendance for our global audience. This is our marquee gathering for the year. Register today to join our livestream or request a spot in person. Join in!

In the News

There has been a lot of discussion about the recent Meta settlement and how this may alter economic incentives and tilt companies towards Safety by Design standards. ATIH Founder & President David Ryan Polgar recently appeared on WNYW FOX 5 to unpack the issue.

In his role at ATIH, David has a unique vantage point on lawsuits, regulation, public understanding and pressure, youth and parental movements, research transparency, the field of Trust & Safety, and more. David’s background is as an attorney and educator, and he has served on boards including TikTok’s U.S. Content Advisory Council and Teleperformance’s Trust & Safety Council. He regularly speaks and offers commentary on the social impact of technology and how we can collectively tackle these complex issues; his commentary has been featured in MIT Technology Review, The Guardian, CBS, BBC World News, MS NOW, Fast Company, and more. He’s been on stage at SXSW London, NATO Stratcom, and the United Nations.

Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

Share All Tech Is Human

How is AI impacting you?

Why are we exploring this question? Well, our central focus at All Tech Is Human is to tackle thorny tech & society issues and co-create a better tech future. To do that, we need to fully understand what a “better tech future” would look like (a question we regularly ask to interviewees in our Responsible Tech Guide). Instead of assuming there is a shared vision, we need to perpetually question and learn.

I am sure you have a lot of opinions about AI right now. Similar to social media, it seems to invoke the full Roy G. Biv of emotions. Perhaps you find moments of joy with generative AI, followed by sadness about how we’re glued to our devices. Fear about job displacement and anger about environmental impacts. Or perhaps your chatbot usage has evoked both disgust and surprise.

Our relationship with tech is complicated. That’s why we recently held a gathering and conversation alongside the Center for Humane Technology on AI and what makes us human (see the fireside chat video).

On September 22 in NYC, we’ll be having some fun with this question by co-hosting a special tech comedy event. This coincides with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which brings over 10,000 diplomats and country delegations to NYC during this time period. We know that many of you reading this newsletter will also be traveling for it. To express your interest and/or send over a quote, just fill out the short form below.

Interest form + quotes

We’d love to incorporate your perspective into the show, and if you would like to be considered for attendance. It will be a memorable gathering, and all stage activity will also be filmed. There will be stand-up sets, an animated and candid panel conversation, and much more.

To make this a memorable gathering, we’ve lined up comedians Chuck Nice (co-host of StarTalk w/ Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of Brain Games on the Road, HGTV’s Home Strange Home, Discovery’s Is It True?, VH1’s Best Week Ever) and Pratima Mani (four-time Emmy nominated, 2-time WGA-nominated comedic writer and performer based in New York City, who has written for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The New Yorker and Reductress). After their sets, they will be joining our freewheeling panel with noted media theorist and bestselling author Douglas Rushkoff, along with other special guests.

Participate

See some videos from our special guests below:

🗓️Calendar of Activities

September 10:

Join our livestream (Leaders’ Perspectives: Advice & Insights into Hiring Practices and Priorities) where Sherine Kazim (Executive Director of All Tech Is Human) will be joined by Melanie Quandt (Senior Director, Stategic Partnerships at Highspring) and Jeffrey S. Collins (Director of Trust & Safety, Amazon Web Services) to explore trends from the hiring side for Responsible AI and Trust & Safety roles.

September 15:

How has rapid AI adoption changed the human side of work? In partnership with the University of Notre Dame and IBM (Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab), we will be releasing a whitepaper authored by Jen Weedon (ATIH Braintrust member) that explores this issue and gleans learnings from our two recent workshops on the topic.

September 17:

Join our livestream where we speak with Beth Simone Noveck, author of Reboot Democracy in the Age of AI. Will AI tighten the grip of power? Or will it help rebuild public institutions that work for people? Reboot offers a bold and practical playbook for tipping the balance in favor of democracy.

September 17:

Join us in NYC for a special conversation with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer, author of On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. Given how emerging technology is intertwined with the health and future of our democracy, this is a timely discussion.

October 8:

How did we get from the early optimism of the internet to a world where technology companies sit at the center of debates over elections, free speech, misinformation, and democracy? Join our livestream with Katie Harbath, author of the upcoming Disrupting Politics: Technology, Democracy, and What Comes Next.

October 13:

We will be releasing our next version of the Responsible Tech Guide! Do you have individuals, organizations, or ideas that you think should be highlighted? Submit your ideas here.

October 28:

Two pre-summit gatherings will be held ahead of the main event:

• Columbia University: Can Local Momentum Become National Tech Policy, in partnership with Columbia World Projects

• Consulate General of Canada in New York: Building Safer Social Media: Youth Voices, Civil Liberties, and Democratic Governance, in partnership with the consulate and Dialogue on Technology Project

October 29:

Responsible Tech Summit 2026. From Principles to Power: Embedding Accountability in the AI Era happens at The Times Center in Manhattan + livestreamed. This is our marquee gathering for the year. Register today to join our livestream or request a spot in person.

*There are also ATIHx gatherings, which are independently organized by our community members, happening all over the globe. ATIHx Denver/Boulder is meeting up on September 29, and ATIHx Twin Cities is launching on September 29!

Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

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We’re busy putting the final touches on our next Responsible Tech Guide (submit your ideas), an upcoming whitepaper on the impact of Generative and Agentic AI on the workplace, and our big Responsible Tech Summit (in person + livestream) on October 29. We’re currently adding a few moderators, along with speakers for a pre-summit gathering at the Canadian Consulate. Reach out to us to learn more. And because we all need a little levity, we’re involved with a tech comedy show September 22 in NYC.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

Thank you to everyone who came out to AI and What Makes Us Human

On Monday, we collaborated with the Center for Humane Technology to hold a mixer + fireside chat where Camille Carlton (Senior Director of Strategy and Impact, Center for Humane Technology) was in conversation with ATIH’s David Ryan Polgar. The discussion explored the concept of AI drift, holding onto what makes us human, and CHT’s new workstream and campaign. Watch the video below!

💻Join our three upcoming livestreams…

So many of our career conversations stem from helping people in Responsible Tech who are looking for a new role, or those seeking a career transition, but what about the employer’s perspective? We’ll dig into learnings from having relationships with both those hiring and those looking for roles, along with data from our Responsible Tech Job Board and talent pool of over 6k individuals.

Register for September 10 livestream

Join us for a conversation with Beth Simone Noveck, author of Reboot: AI and the Race to Save Democracy. Listed in our Responsible Tech Summer Reading List.

Register for September 17 livestream

How did we get from the early optimism of the internet to a world where technology companies sit at the center of debates over elections, free speech, misinformation, and democracy? What happens now as AI ushers in another era of rapid change? Join our discussion with Katie Harbath, author of the upcoming Disrupting Politics: Technology, Democracy, and What Comes Next.

Register for October 8 livestream

👋Join our three upcoming in-person gatherings

How can we build the capacity to dissent, protect one another, and act on our convictions in times of uncertainty?

Register for September 17 in NYC

Another great collaboration with our friends at the Consulate General of Canada in New York; this pre-summit gathering is in collaboration with the Dialogue on Technology Project, and will dig into the Canada’s Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34). We’re currently lining up two panels, so do reach out if this is your area of expertise.

Request to join Oct 28 gathering in NYC

Check out our incredible panel lined up for a discussion on Safety by Design at our upcoming Responsible Tech Summit! We have a full-day of programming for an in person gathering at The Times Center in Manhattan, along with a livestream audience. This year’s theme is Embedding Accountability in the AI Era. A big thank you to all of our supporters who are helping us expand the Responsible Tech Summit.

Join the Responsible Tech Summit

Phew, we told you there was a lot going on! If you are new to All Tech Is Human, we are the coordination layer and connective tissue for the Responsible Tech ecosystem. We unite all stakeholders to tackle thorny tech & society issues and align our tech future with the public interest.

Nerdy, we know. But it’s the “missing middle” and social infrastructure needed to move the needle. You can learn more about our org with our new explainer video!

Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

👉In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about new speakers being confirmed for the Responsible Tech Summit (October 29 in NYC with virtual engagement), a new form to submit your ideas for the next Responsible Tech Guide, our recent Trust & Safety livestream, a video from our Responsible AI course, and three upcoming NYC gatherings.

🎈We’re also greatly expanding our ATIHx program for independently organized gatherings for the Responsible Tech community, which is now in ten cities. Yesterday ATIHx New Haven held their first mixer, the Denver/Boulder group met up last week, and there are upcoming mixers in Philadelphia and Washington, DC this month.

Also: if you’ll be in NYC in September for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) or any of its related side events, please let us know by filling out this form.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

New speakers announced for the Responsible Tech Summit

We’re continuing to finalize our programming for the upcoming Responsible Tech Summit, which takes place at The Times Center in Manhattan on Thursday, October 29. The summit has limited in-person availability and free virtual engagement.

New speakers added to our line-up include:

• Beth Goldberg, the recently announced inaugural Executive Director of Humanity AI

• ​Fernanda Del Castillo, Director of AI Governance, Mastercard

• Shreya Singh Hernández, Senior Manager, Aspen Digital, The Aspen Institute

The theme for this year is From Principles to Power: Embedding Accountability in the AI Era. Our next newsletter will feature the full agenda, packed with fireside chats, presentations, and panel conversations.

Apply to join us in person or register for our livestream. A big thank you to the supporters of the Responsible Tech Summit who are helping make all of this possible.

Join the Responsible Tech Summit!

📖Share your ideas for the next Responsible Tech Guide!

Our next Responsible Tech Guide will be released on October 1st!

The Responsible Tech Guide, first released in the Fall of 2020, has been instrumental in inspiring the next generation, building a more cohesive ecosystem, and tracking the rapidly evolving movement. We have featured hundreds(!!) of leaders across civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy, along with highlighting resources from numerous organizations doing valuable work.

Who should we be profiling? What new resources should we be listing? What changes would you like to see? Let us know.

Submit your ideas

🗽Three Upcoming Gatherings in NYC

🗓️August 19: We are organizing a small mixer for ecosystem builders and weavers that are helping solidify NYC as the global hub for Responsible Tech.

Join us August 19

🗓️August 24: In a collaboration with the Center for Humane Technology, we are organizing a Responsible Tech Mixer + Fireside Chat. All Tech Is Human’s David Ryan Polgar (Founder & President) will be in conversation with Camille Carlton (Senior Director of Strategy and Impact at Center for Humane Technology) on AI and What Makes Us Human. The conversation is being filmed.

Join us August 24

🗓️September 17: What does courage consist of in our age of rising authoritarianism and democratic backsliding? In collaboration with Columbia World Projects, we are welcoming the authors of On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear, Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer, for a discussion on how communities can form the habits and relationships necessary to defend democratic values in moments of crisis.

Join us September 17

🤔Where is the future of Trust & Safety headed?

ATIH's Sandra Khalil and David Ryan Polgar discussed their key takeaways from this year's TrustCon in San Francisco with special guests Katie Harbath (Founder of Anchor Change), Jacob Silver (Sr. Data & Implementation Officer at the Oversight Board), and Alice Goguen Hunsberger (Head of Trust & Safety at Musubi).

One observation from the livestream was that despite recent industry anxiety, there was a general sense of optimism and renewed community among Trust & Safety practitioners. A central theme was the industry's shift from theoretical AI safety debates to the practical, hands-on integration of AI into Trust & Safety operations (reflected in the stage activities at TrustCon).

The livestream also offered advice for professionals looking to break into or pivot within Trust & Safety. Advice centered on developing technical AI literacy, pairing core domain skills (such as child safety or policy), and expanding job searches beyond Big Tech to include vendors, think tanks, and fields like finance or healthcare. Everyone highlighted the essential role of both in-person gatherings and virtual communities in reducing isolation and driving collaborative solutions for complex tech and society issues.

📌Related resources: See Trust & Safety roles on our Responsible Tech Job Board, and watch our recent livestream on pivoting into Responsible Tech.

Build community: We have an incredible mix of backgrounds coming together in our large Slack community, which is open for everyone to join (sign in | apply).

Are you hiring in Trust & Safety? Through our new partnership with Highspring, we now offer assistance with candidate short-lists, managed services, and more.

✍️Have you taken our Responsible AI courses yet?

Since launching our Responsible AI courses, thousands of individuals have received certificates through Teachable and now on LinkedIn Learning. We heard from many of you wanting to access the material outside of LinkedIn, so we’re publishing Principles of Responsible AI: Identifying, Understanding, and Mitigating Risks in the video above. Our Responsible AI course, which also features instructor Renée Cummings, was made possible through the support of The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation.

This introductory course module provides a comprehensive framework for identifying, understanding, and mitigating the risks associated with modern artificial intelligence systems. The lesson, conducted by Rebekah Tweed, structures AI risk across three distinct technological areas: predictive/automated decision-making, generative AI, and agentic AI. For evaluation, we utilize the NIST AI Risk Management Framework as a foundation.

In this video, we examine historical missteps across sector domains, including algorithmic bias in hiring tools, governance breakdowns in automated benefit systems, generative hallucinations, and deepfakes used for harassment and election interference.

📌Related resource: Rebekah recently filmed a new course with LinkedIn, Why AI governance matters: Building trust in an AI world. Take it here.

Would you like to partner with All Tech Is Human on future courses? Reach out to us.

Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

All Tech Is Human provides the coordination layer for the Responsible Tech movement. Through community-building, education, and career-related activities, we act as the connective tissue for the multistakeholder ecosystem. This collective action is needed to tackle thorny tech & society issues and build a tech future aligned with the public interest.

We also just got back from TrustCon in San Francisco, where it became readily apparent that the fields of Trust & Safety, Responsible AI, and Cybersecurity are rapidly intermingling. The intersectoral nature of technology is why our organization has always tried to unite a broad range of sectors and backgrounds; you can’t solve a puzzle if only looking at a few pieces. All Tech Is Human provides the connective tissue that helps align fragmented actors, surface emerging risks, and strengthen the broader ecosystem so that we can tackle thorny tech & society issues.

In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about our upcoming livestream to discuss takeaways from TrustCon (July 30), an NYC gathering on AI and What Makes Us Human (Aug 24), and our new white paper with Mastercard that you can download (Building Inter-party Trust in AI).

We’re excited to see a high level of interest in our ATIHx initiative for independently organized community gatherings (attend upcoming ones in Denver/Boulder and Philadelphia), which are tied to our large Slack community, where people share resources, collaborate, and meet up in person. Having such a diverse network provides a rare window into how the Responsible Tech movement is evolving. If you’d like to learn more about the state of Responsible Tech, read Project Liberty’s recent interview with ATIH founder David Ryan Polgar.

👇Now, onto the newsletter!

Download our new white paper on Building Inter-party Trust in AI

As artificial intelligence systems become deeply embedded across industries, deploying them responsibly requires looking towards the broader network of partners, vendors, and stakeholders. Our new white paper, Building Inter-party Trust in AI, explores the mechanisms required to establish verifiable trust, transparency, and accountability across multi-party AI ecosystems. It is a collaboration between All Tech Is Human and Mastercard.

The white paper examines the rapidly evolving landscape of AI governance, offering insight for how organizations can collaboratively manage risk, align Responsible AI frameworks, and protect the public interest as AI workflows become increasingly interconnected and integrated across corporate boundaries. The lead author is ATIH strategic advisor Leah Ferintinos, and it is based on both research and learnings from our workshop held on March 26.

Leah and Alayna Kennedy (Director of AI Governance at Mastercard) recently held a livestream to discuss the white paper that you can watch here. Download the white paper and let us know your thoughts!

Learn more and download the white paper

Let’s talk about the state of Trust & Safety

Sandra and David soaked up a lot of learnings from this week’s TrustCon in San Francisco. They will be inviting a few special guests who were also at the conference to talk about trends they are seeing, what surprised them, and where they see the field of Trust & Safety headed. Join in with your questions and comments, and also network with some great people in the chat.

Join the livestream on July 30

How is AI altering what it means to be human? And what can we do about it?

Join us in Manhattan on Monday, August 24 for a fireside with the Center for Humane Technology’s Camille Carlton about AI and What Makes Us Human. Camille is the Senior Director of Strategy and Impact at the Center for Humane Technology, where she shapes the organization's strategy to ensure technology is designed and developed in the public interest.

Recognized as one of Business Insider’s AI 100 in 2023, Camille works at the cutting edge of the biggest debates in tech and society. Camille has been featured in Bloomberg, NBC News, and The New York Times, and her work has been published in Science and Tech Policy Press.

Join us on August 24 in NYC

Be on the lookout for our full schedule of speakers arriving in the next newsletter!

We’re working hard behind the scenes to develop our Responsible Tech Summit on October 29 at The Times Center in Manhattan into a major gathering for the movement. Soon you’ll learn about additional events, such as one on Building Safer Social Media that will be held at the Consulate General of Canada in New York on October 28.

The theme of this year’s summit is Embedding Accountability in the AI Era, and we have already announced some incredible speakers and will have more to reveal soon. A big thank you to our partners helping support the Responsible Tech Summit, including the Siegel Family Endowment, Workday, Mastercard, Microsoft, GitHub, IAPP, and the Civic Health Project.

You can now register for livestream participation, or put in your request to join us live in New York. We’re finalizing our list of partners, so reach out to us to learn more!

Responsible Tech Summit

Did you miss our recent livestream on pivoting into Responsible Tech? Watch now.

The health and diversity of the workforce that is actively working in roles across Trust & Safety, Responsible AI, Public Interest Technology, and Youth/Tech/Wellbeing has a major impact on ensuring a better tech future. We see firsthand how many people who have backgrounds that would greatly benefit the field struggle with finding guidance and support with a career pivot.

Thank you to everyone who joined us live for our recent discussion; we had so many submitted questions that we couldn’t get to, so our guest, Melanie Quandt, answered them here.

RELATED RESOURCES: You can read our Responsible Tech Job Board, find support through our Slack community, join our talent pool, and receive free job matches through our recent partnership with Highspring. See all of our links here.

Quantum Frontiers & Responsible AI: A Global Dialogue on Emerging Technologies

We had a wonderful time at the Finnish Consulate for welcome remarks, fireside chat, and two panel conversations, followed by a reception at the Finnish Residence for participants across civil society, government, industry, and academia.

👏We are actively mapping our winter and 2027 large gatherings, roundtables, workshops, and potential white papers and resources. We’re also moving into Phase 2 as an organization in 2027 with our Responsible Tech Workforce & Community Infrastructure Initiative. Email us to discuss potential partnerships!

Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

🗣️“We find ourselves in a predicament of inaction not due to a lack of effort, but a lack of connective tissue.”

-Katy Knight, President and Executive Director of the Siegel Family Endowment

In her recent World Economic Forum OpEd, “The global AI dialogue must build infrastructure, not just consensus,” Katy Knight highlights a key challenge facing AI governance: the global community has reached a “predicament of inaction” not due to a lack of ethical principles, but because it lacks the operational infrastructure to act on them.

Katy highlights how national governments, civil society, and researchers currently operate in isolated silos, suffering from a profound “lack of connective tissue”. To counter the information and narrative concentrated in the hands of a few powerful voices, she emphasizes that the world must build “durable peer-learning networks” that function as active learning systems, allowing knowledge to travel faster than the technology itself.

We couldn’t agree more with Katy’s diagnosis of the real problem that is getting in the way of progress. Since our founding in 2018, All Tech Is Human has been building the connective tissue and social infrastructure across civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy. Through our 15k-member Slack community with representation from 117 countries, we are creating a peer-learning network that democratizes access to knowledge and decentralizes expertise. Over the years, our big-tent approach has brought together those impacted by technology with those shaping its design, development, and deployment - creating a space to collectively tackle thorny tech & society issues.

We are working behind the scenes to launch a future global Responsible Tech Hub that will serve as an always-on conversation and living library for the Responsible Tech movement. We’re working on uniting all of our related activity from our gatherings, livestreams, job board, Slack, and more to develop a dashboard that will serve as an invaluable public-interest social utility.

Katy Knight outlined the exact infrastructure the world needs. All Tech Is Human is building its architecture. To learn more about our ambitious project and help make it a reality, reach out to us.

📺CONTINUED LEARNING: Katy Knight spoke at our Responsible Tech Summit last year about “Reimagining Autonomy in the Age of AI”, coinciding with the launch of Humanity AI.

Two upcoming livestreams:

Join us TODAY at 3pm ET to discuss our upcoming whitepaper on building inter-party trust in AI

Please join us for our upcoming livestream discussing All Tech Is Human and Mastercard’s upcoming AI Governance report on Building Inter-party Trust in AI. We’ll be joined by two of the main authors of the report, Alayna Kennedy (Director - AI Governance at Mastercard) and Leah Ferentinos (AI Governance Researcher and Strategic Advisor to All Tech Is Human).

This AI Governance report addresses a critical blind spot in the AI supply chain: the business-to-business (B2B) layer. While public and regulatory conversations heavily focus on frontier model developers and direct consumer risks, traditional enterprises and startups often struggle to safely evaluate, procure, and integrate AI products built by third-party vendors.

Join our livestream TODAY

Pivoting into Responsible Tech? Join us!

Next Thursday, we’re exploring the evolving landscape for careers in Responsible Tech. Leveraging our recent partnership with Highspring, where we’re building a global Responsible Tech talent engine, we are diving into the data to uncover what is actually happening on the ground for employers and job seekers alike.

This conversation will dig into the 3-step pivot framework, real career pivot pathways, how to reframe your experience, and what actually gets people hired.

Our livestream guest will be Melanie Quandt (Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Highspring) to share her expert perspective. With over 20 years of experience at industry giants such as Salesforce and LinkedIn, Melanie is a powerhouse at building high-performing teams for global platforms. As the creator of the #TrustTuesday community, she has her finger on the pulse of the Trust and Safety and Responsible AI sector. She also has deep expertise with those pivoting into Responsible Tech.

Our upcoming session will feature an exclusive look our talent community data to explore job distribution and hiring trends, supply vs. demand insights, and skill signals we are seeing from job postings gathered from All Tech Is Human’s Responsible Tech Job Board. Learn more about our new partnership with Highspring, which is enhancing our ability to provide talent matching and more.

Next Week in NYC…

We're finalizing attendance for our workshops happening on July 13 and 14 in NYC! If you are currently using generative AI and/or agentic AI as part of your work, we'd love to have you register.

DETAILS: All Tech Is Human and the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab are running two workshops on Human-AI Collaboration in Transition on July 13 and 14 in New York City, led by Braintrust Member Jen Weedon. Spots are limited to people currently using generative AI and/or agentic AI as part of their work, and we have two different workshops depending on your role.

Day 1 Operators. Looks at what's actually changing at work (workflows, skills, trust, judgment), then asks what should happen next: what "good" AI adoption looks like, and what's worth protecting. REGISTER

Day 2 Executives. Examines and closes gaps on what's happening on the ground, plus honest conversations on values, accountability, and craft. REGISTER

We are finalizing our participantsby the end of this week for our gathering with the Finnish Consulate in New York titled, Quantum Frontiers & Responsible AI: A Global Dialogue on Emerging Technologies. There will be two panel conversations, a fireside chat, and a reception held at the Finnish Residence.

Learn more here

Responsible Tech Summit

This year’s Responsible Tech Summit happens on Thursday, October 29 at The Times Center in Manhattan for 375 participants, with all stage activities being livestreamed to a global audience!

The theme of this year’s summit is Embedding Accountability in the AI Era, and will have a mixuture of presentations, fireside chats, and panel conversations with an incredible array of speakers (with a few more to be announced shortly). A big thank you to our partners helping support the Responsible Tech Summit, including the Siegel Family Endowment, Workday, Mastercard, Microsoft, GitHub, IAPP, and the Civic Health Project.

You can now register for livestream participation, or put in your request to join us live in New York. We’ll also be adding a few additional partners, along with select demo tables in The Times Center atrium. Reach out to us to learn more!

Responsible Tech Summit

👏Will you be in San Francisco for TrustCon? If so, say hello to Sandra Khalil and David Ryan Polgar who will be in attendence.

Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

💭What is YOUR tech future worth clapping for? Submit your response here.

How is your summer going so far? If you’re like us, you may enjoy curling up with a good book in the shade. That’s why we’re thrilled today to put out our fourth annual Responsible Tech Summer Reading List! Check out the curated list, peruse our earlier selections, and send us your suggestions.

👉Also in today's newsletter: registration is now open for our Responsible Tech Summit. Join us on October 29 at The Times Center in New York City for a premier gathering uniting stakeholders across the Responsible Tech ecosystem. This year's theme is *From Principles to Power: Embedding Accountability in the AI Era. Attend virtually for free, or request one of our limited in-person seats here.

As always, we’re keeping busy here at All Tech Is Human, building a trusted multistakeholder network for ecosystem understanding and coordination. Why is this needed? Because cross-sector alignment is critical for responsible innovation. People across the ecosystem are clearly aware that there is a “tech problem,” so an awareness campaign isn’t going to move the needle. But tying the people, organizations, and ideas of the Responsible Tech ecosystem will. Relational infrastructure is crucial.

We’re currently putting together two workshops in NYC to explore the impact of Generative and Agentic AI from an on-the-ground, practitioner perspective (July 13) and a leadership perspective (July 14). This is a collaboration with Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab, and will lead to a forthcoming whitepaper. And on July 15, we will be holding a gathering on Quantum Frontiers & Responsible AI: A Global Dialogue on Emerging Technologies at the Finnish Consulate + Residence.

Thank you to everyone who joined our recent livestream with the Council on Tech & Social Cohesion. We hope you can join us today at 1pm ET for a discussion on the role of Trust & Safety in ever-popular prediction markets.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

Check out our fourth annual Responsible Tech Summer Reading List 📚

This year, we curated a mix of non-fiction and fiction books that touch on key topic areas of the Responsible Tech movement, along with the underlying commitment of collective understanding, involvement, and action.

Responsible Tech Summer Reading List

Thank you for all the suggestions we received over the last few weeks. We also received a lot of book suggestions for ones featured in previous editions, such as Empire of AI by Karen Hao (featured last year). If you would like to share our list with others on LinkedIn, you can see our post here.

Here at All Tech Is Human, we like to celebrate authors because they can be the center for important conversations, spark necessary debate, and inspire the next generation and many career-changers who are entering the Responsible Tech movement to align our tech future with our values and interests. See below for a selection of some of our favorite author conversations!

You may have seen a picture in the Algorithm Justice League’s newsletter of Dr. Joy Buolamwini handing the Pope a copy of Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, From Ancient Oracles to AI. We had a recent conversation with author Carissa Véliz on how those making predictions of our tech future are often just trying to sell us a future.

Our tech future, of course, is not inevitable.

Empire of AI has been a blockbuster of a book in the Responsible Tech ecosystem. We chatted with author Karen Hao directly following its release last year.

Noted media theorist and bestselling author Douglas Rushkoff has been crucial to All Tech Is Human, providing the intellectual grounding and inspiration for our organization. Not one to mince words, he proudly centers human values. And we’re proudly Team Human.

✍️ As a friend and supporter of our organization, Douglas Rushkoff has extended an invitation for members of our community to attend a twice-monthly invite-only salon series he is hosting through Andus Labs. To get on the invite list, simply email csato@anduslabs.com and explain that you are a member of All Tech Is Human.

We received multiple recommendations for Unmasking AI, which was a previous selection on our reading list. We were fortunate to co-host the launch of Dr. Joy Buolamwini back in 2023 in collaboration with the Algorithmic Justice League, Ford Foundation, Random House, and The Institute of Global Politics (IGP) at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University.

Cory Doctorow coined the term “Enshittification” to describe the perpetual deterioration of platforms, which was also the name of one of his books on our Responsible Tech Summer Reading List.

If you’ve read our newsletter for the last few months, you have been reading about our flagship gathering, the Responsible Tech Summit. We have been putting in a great deal of planning to make this an impactful moment where individuals across civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy come together to surface values, tensions, trade-offs, and best practices.

Thorny tech & society issues are not solved in a vacuum—they require conducive spaces to learn, share, and build consensus toward collective action.

We are thrilled to welcome speakers Ayah Bdeir, Sinead Bovell, Rumman Chowdhury, Camille François, Joshua Elder, Anya Schiffrin, Julie Cordua, Cathy O’Neil, Renée Cummings, Eli Pariser, Kathy Pham, Alex Bores, Amanda Craig, Britta Holmberg, Alison Lee, Carrie Varoquiers, Kristin Hansen, and Alexis Wales.

This summit is a major undertaking. It is made possible with the support of the Siegel Family Endowment, Workday, Mastercard, Microsoft, GitHub, and the Civic Health Project. We’re finalizing our speakers and supporters, so please reach out to us if you’d like to be involved.

🎟️ Registration is now open for the summit! Join us virtually for free, or request an in-person seat.

Responsible Tech Summit REGISTRATION

👏Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

We held an AI & Philanthropy roundtable in NYC last week, exploring the tensions related to funding and implementing AI projects. This was a collaboration with Forum One and Idealist (our host), and featured numerous philanthropic and non-profit leaders having a candid conversation about improving alignment between funders and orgs.

All Tech Is Human is always organizing roundtables, workshops, and curated gatherings, so reach out to us to collaborate.

Here at All Tech Is Human, we recognize that this “Agentic Shift” is more than just a technological upgrade; it is a potential societal and organizational evolution that requires diverse perspectives and thoughtful stewardship. To help meet the moment, we are putting together two workshops in collaboration in the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab that will take place on July 13 (mid-level) and July 14 (executive level) in NYC, being led by Jen Weedon. Learn more below in our newsletter.

We are currently lining up additional workshops for the Fall and Winter, so please reach out if you’d like to partner. Our unique formula combines a broad network, targeted expertise at critical intersections, and the ability to connect insights and stakeholders across civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy.

📰In today’s newsletter, you’ll also find an upcoming livestream on moving from harm mitigation to intentional design (June 11), along with a discussion on why prediction markets need Trust & Safety professionals (June 25). In addition, you’ll see a video from our recent discussion on trends in Responsible Tech careers.

Over the coming weeks, be on the lookout for our Responsible Tech Summer Reading List (submit suggestions), registration page (approval required) for our Responsible Tech Summit (Oct 29, NYC; finalizing partners now), and speakers for our Quantum Frontiers & Responsible AI: A Global Dialogue on Emerging Technologies special gathering at the Finnish Consulate and Residence in NYC on July 15.

For those attending Shared Futures next week (hosted by the Aspen Institute and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation), please say hello to David Ryan Polgar and Sandra Khalil from our team. David and Sandra will also be attending TrustCon in SF July 20-22. And for those of you planning UNGA events in mid-September, reach out our way.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

We Miss You Already, London!

We had an incredible time during our Responsible AI Community Mixer that was held at the historic Old Spitalfields Market in London last week! This gathering was an official part of SXSW London, so we had a mix of ATIH community members and SXSW attendees. Here at ATIH, we’re all about the cross-pollination of people and ideas!

A big thank you to Mastercard, which partnered with us to provide drinks and music. Be on the lookout for our Inter-Party Trust in AI white paper arriving soon, deriving from our recent workshop in collaboration with them.

👋Did you know? All Tech Is Human’s Slack community (sign in | apply), which will surpass 15k members across 117 countries soon, has a dedicated London channel, along with select cities throughout Europe (and a larger European channel).

It was great to have a Responsible Tech panel take center stage at SXSW London!

Squeezed in between Michelle Obama, Padma Lakshmi, and Queen Rania of Jordan, All Tech Is Human’s David Ryan Polgar (Founder & President) took part in the Reclaiming AI for the Public Good panel. He emphasized that our tech future is not inevitable, it is being actively shaped, on a panel alongside Bo Young Lee (CEO of AI4ALL), Elizabeth Renieris (University of Oxford), and moderator Charlotte Jee (MIT Technology Review).

All Tech Is Human has previously held two large gatherings at the Royal Society, one at Conway Hall, and a memorable mixer at The Shard. We’re always looking to do more in London and throughout Europe, so do reach out with your partnership ideas.

How are you navigating the new human-AI workflow?

In partnership with the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab, we are hosting a workshop series focused on perceptions, adoption, and experience with agentic and generative AI systems across the workforce. The series is called Human-AI Collaboration in Transition: Understanding Work, Agency, and Stewardship in the Age of Generative and Agentic AI, and will have a forthcoming white paper.

Led by Jen Weedon, ATIH Braintrust member, this series aims to surface both strategic and lived insights from across organizational levels, generating a more holistic set of data points to inform responsible research and practice in the enterprise space. There is no cost for attendance.

📆Full-day workshop for mid-level professionals on Monday, July 13

​Our full-day workshop is being held in person in Manhattan for gathering of fifty mid-level professionals from a broad range of backgrounds and disciplines.

​These individuals represent the lived experience of the AI transition; those who may be currently navigating or anticipating significant changes in their daily workflows due to foundation models and/or agentic systems. This session is dedicated to surfacing the ground-level realities of human-AI collaboration, identifying the frictions of transition, and surfacing strategies that may empower the workforce rather than displace it.

Apply to the July 13 workshop

📆Half-day workshop for executives on Tuesday, July 14

On Tuesday, July 14, the conversation moves toward organizational leadership and governance. We will bring together 20–30 senior executives who are currently standing at the crossroads of automation. Whether you are navigating the complexities of adoption, facing regulatory bottlenecks, dealing with internal reorgs or downsizing, and/or weighing the decision to automate core processes, this executive intimate workshop offers a high-level forum to discuss the ethics of efficiency and the push towards “AI-first” or “AI-native” transformations.

​This workshop aims to surface the process, knowledge, tensions, and skill gaps. Together, we will explore how leadership can drive innovation while maintaining the trust and integrity essential to the modern enterprise.

Apply to the July 14 workshop

Two Upcoming Livestreams:

How can we move from harm mitigation to intentional design?

Join our livestream with Kristin Hansen, Co-chair of the global Council on Technology and Social Cohesion and Executive Director of Civic Health Project. The discussion will dig into the insights, takeaways, and next steps stemming from the recent Council on Technology and Social Cohesion Expo.

We’ll move beyond the traditional framing of merely reacting to and mitigating technological harms, and explore proactive pathways for building digital spaces and governance structures that intentionally foster social cohesion, strengthen democratic civic health, and bridge societal divisions.

Join our livestream June 11

Prediction markets are in need for more Trust & Safety professionals

Prediction markets are gaining traction as a way to forecast everything from elections and geopolitical developments to financial and policy outcomes. As their influence grows, so do questions about market integrity, manipulation, misinformation, insider information, and other forms of harm.

Please join us for a timely livestream on Thursday, June 25th at 1pm ET with guests Leah Ferentinos, Glenn Borsky, and moderator Sandra Khalil from ATIH. This webinar will discuss the role Trust and Safety professionals can play in helping prediction market platforms, regulators, and other stakeholders navigate these challenges. You can read the related Tech Policy Press piece here.

Join our livestream June 25

In Case You Missed It:

🔮Our new partnership with Highspring is allowing us to build a global Responsible Tech talent engine with real-time insights into the evolving career landscape! We were recently joined by Highspring’s Melanie Quandt to discuss trends and strategies.

🏗️ATIH’s Sherine Kazim recently spoke at Stanford University about our unique ecosystem work building the relational infrastructure for the Responsible Tech field. Part of a working group focused on philanthropy, this is the “missing middle” that is essential greater coordination and progress.

🗣️Speaking of philanthropy, we are holding an AI & Philanthropy roundtable in NYC on Thursday, June 18th in collaboration with Forum One and Idealist.org.

🤔What can the AI industry learn from Trust & Safety? Jen Weedon, who is leading our upcoming workshop series, will be speaking during this Integrity Institute webinar on June 17 alongside Diane Chang, Katelyn Edwards, and Chanell Daniels.

💻If you have taken our Responsible AI courses led by Rebekah Tweed and Renée Cummings, you’ll want to check out Rebekah’s new course on AI Governance!

🔭You likely read all about Pope Leo XIV’s foundational encyclical letter Magnifica Humanitas, which outlines a framework for AI Ethics. In attendance at the Vatican included Ayah Bdeir, Eli Pariser, and Camille François—who are all speaking at our upcoming Responsible Tech Summit!

What is YOUR future worth clapping for? Let us know here.

👏Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

Learn more about our expanding ATIHx program.

As you may have seen in a few recent viral videos, booing at the mention of AI during graduation speeches is having a moment. The most famous occurred at the University of Central Florida two weeks ago, with students booing when the speaker mentioned that AI is “the next Industrial Revolution.”

When the speaker mentioned that AI was not part of daily life just a few short years ago, the students enthusiastically clapped. The speaker was clearly taken aback by the reaction.

I wasn’t shocked, and I imagine many of you reading this were not shocked as well. But it certainly caused me to reflect on how one’s age and upbringing dramatically color where we fall on the spectrum of hope towards building a better tech future. My past was filled with moments of awe, excitement, and hunger as I thought about how tech would change our lives. I have memories of social media and emerging technology enriching my life. So while that is certainly not the present situation, my memories deeply influence my belief in what is possible.

But to a recent graduate, their past was after social media started going sideways. It’s much harder to believe that a better tech future is possible when there isn’t a memory in your past where the tech in your life felt positive.

I think that’s why intergenerational collaboration can be so important; to be siloed in youth robs one of history and potential, and to be isolated from youth prevents one from experiencing the true gravity and vulnerability that others feel.

That intergenerational mismatch was in full effect during the graduation boos, along with the clapping when describing an AI-free past. We can’t go back in time, however. Nor should we. But I certainly want a tech future worth clapping for.

-David Ryan Polgar, Founder of All Tech Is Human

In your opinion, what is a tech future worth clapping for?

We want to hear from you, and we’ll be displaying some of your submissions in future newsletters, in our next Responsible Tech Guide, and at our Responsible Tech Summit in the Fall.

Tech Future Worth Clapping For

Two upcoming livestreams for you to join:

We’re exploring the evolving landscape for careers in Responsible Tech. Join us!

Roles related to Trust & Safety, Responsible AI, and Public Interest Technology have rapidly evolved. With our new partnership with Highspring, we are now able to have a real-time analysis around trends and pain points. We do this by analyzing changing roles on our Responsible Tech Job Board, insight from our large talent pool, and the over 200 responses we received from our recent survey. This session will feature an exclusive look at the results, with guest Melanie Quandt (Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Highspring) to share her expertise.

We’ll be exploring the skills, roles, and structural trends defining the future of work in AI governance, Trust and Safety, and more. If you are interested in where Responsible Tech roles are headed, this livestream is for you.

Join our livestream May 28

We recently released a post on Decoding the Responsible Tech Job Market: Why Transferable Skills and Transparency Are the New Hiring Signals from our survey results.

How can we move from harm mitigation to intentional design?

Join our livestream with Kristin Hansen, Co-chair of the global Council on Technology and Social Cohesion and Executive Director of Civic Health Project. The discussion will dig into the insights, takeaways, and next steps stemming from the recent Council on Technology and Social Cohesion Expo.

We’ll move beyond the traditional framing of merely reacting to and mitigating technological harms, and explore proactive pathways for building digital spaces and governance structures that intentionally foster social cohesion, strengthen democratic civic health, and bridge societal divisions.

Join our livestream June 11

Workshops, roundtables, and in-person gatherings:

All Tech Is Human is returning to London! If you’re in the area, please join us at our Responsible AI Community Mixer on June 2 at the historic Old Spitalfields Market. Join us for drinks and music, and say hello to David Ryan Polgar and Sherine Kazim from the team (David will be speaking at SXSW London on June 3 for a Reclaiming AI for the Public Good panel.)

Join us in London!

On June 18th in NYC, we’re convening a small group of senior foundation and nonprofit leaders for a candid dialogue about what AI adoption actually looks like at the leadership level: where it’s working, where the governance gaps are real, and how funders and implementers can move in closer alignment. In collaboration with Forum One, and being held at Idealist.org’s headquarters. This builds on a similar roundtable we held in Washington, DC in April.

Apply to our AI & philanthropy rountable

How is the “Agentic Shift” affecting the workplace? In collaboration with the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab, we are organizing two workshops in NYC on July 13 and 14 (one for mid-level, one for executives). These workshops will lead to the creation of a whitepaper arriving in the Fall, and are being led by Jen Weedon from our Braintrust.

Join a agentic AI workshop

How do we ensure the responsible development of quantum computing and artificial intelligence? If you are interested in the scientific utility of quantum simulations or the latest in AI governance, you’ll want to join our collaborative gathering with the Finnish Consulate in New York on July 15, which is bringing together global leaders from industry, academia, and the public sector. Curated for 75 individuals, we’ll conclude the panels, lightning talks, and networking with a reception at the Finnish Residence.

Express your interest for July 15

ICYMI:

🤔How do we protect kids online without building a pervasive ecosystem of digital surveillance? Read our new piece by Emma Hatheway (intern at ATIH) that tackles this question by diving into the shift from platform-specific age gates to device-level age verification.

✍️Our friends at the Mozilla Festival have an open call for proposals, due by May 24. MozFest is community-led and community co-designed, with a team of Co-Curators from across the globe designing festival tracks. Learn more here.

🎊On May 26, the Barcelona community (ATIHx Barcelona) is putting together a Responsible Tech Unconference! Register here.

📆On June 17, the Aspen Institute and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation are holding Shared Futures: The AI Forum at The Times Center in Manhattan, along with being livestreamed. All Tech Is Human’s David Ryan Polgar and Sandra Khalil will be there. Reach out to us if you will be there as well.

📺Did you miss our recent livestream? Watch the recording above, where we spoke with Carissa Véliz, Author of Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI.

📖Are you reading a good book? Nominate it for our Responsible Tech Summer Reading List

👏Let’s co-create a tech future worth clapping for.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

Share All Tech Is Human

In today’s newsletter, we wanted to surface a glaring problem we’ve noticed in our unique role as the center of gravity for the Responsible Tech ecosystem. Here is the observation: we don’t just have a “tech problem,” we have a coordination problem.

What do we mean by this? When it comes to tackling thorny tech & society issues and working towards a better tech future, various stakeholders have the same general goals but often lack the alignment, trust, or shared language to reach them. This is a major problem that gets in the way of progress.

When we separate individual actors (as opposed to mixing stakeholders), these groups work in silos, which can produce fragmented solutions. The ways All Tech Is Human acts as a coordination layer to bridge these gaps include:

• Multistakeholder Mixing: By breaking down silos, we can have a shared understanding of the problem and work towards coordinated action.

• Professionalizing the Ecosystem: By illuminating pathways for involvement, we can create a clear pipeline for individuals highly motivated to align our tech future with the public interest.

• Reducing Barrier to Entry: To solve complex tech & society issues, we need a diverse range of perspectives involved that have an on-ramp to participation.

• Convening: One-time events don’t typically lead to significant events, but consistent engagement builds the high-level trust necessary for sectors to collaborate on high-stakes issues.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

Join our livestream on May 19, where we talk to the author of Prophecy

Our tech future is not inevitable. On May 19, we will be joined by author Carissa Véliz to discuss her new book, TED talk, and more. We’ll be digging into whether individuals who make predictions about our future and its inevitability may be just trying to sell us that vision.

Join our livestream May 19

We’re exploring the evolving landscape for careers in Responsible Tech. Join us!

Leveraging our new partnership with Highspring, where we’re building a global Responsible Tech talent engine, we are diving into the data to uncover what is actually happening on the ground for employers and job seekers alike. This session will feature an exclusive look at the results from our latest survey of hiring managers and candidates, paired with real-time insights gathered from our Responsible Tech Job Board and our expansive talent pool.

We’ll be joined by Melanie Quandt, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Highspring, to share her expertise. This conversation will provide a look into the skills, roles, and structural trends defining the future of work in AI governance, Trust and Safety, and more. We will bridge the gap between high-level industry shifts and practical career advice, offering a comprehensive look at how the Responsible Tech movement is professionalizing and where we may be headed.

Join our livestream May 28

Employers, hiring managers, and candidates can take our survey here.

Upcoming gatherings, workshops, and roundtables:

May 21 in NYC: ​This gathering with Cornell Tech will bring together a mixture of Trust and Safety professionals, researchers, academics, students, civil society orgs, and more for a discussion about Platforms and Deepfake Nudes: A Responsibility to Act.

Join us May 21

All Tech Is Human will be in London! We’re holding a Responsible AI Community Mixer on June 2 at the historic Old Spitalfields Market. Join us for drinks and music, and say hello to David Ryan Polgar and Sherine Kazim from the team (David will be speaking at SXSW London on June 3 for a Reclaiming AI for the Public Good panel.)

Join us in London!

On June 18th in NYC, we’re convening a small group of senior foundation and nonprofit leaders for a candid dialogue about what AI adoption actually looks like at the leadership level: where it’s working, where the governance gaps are real, and how funders and implementers can move in closer alignment. In collaboration with Forum One, and being held at Idealist.org’s headquarters.

Apply to our AI & philanthropy rountable

How is the “Agentic Shift” affecting the workplace? In collaboration with the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab, we are organizing two workshops in NYC on July 13 and 14 (one for mid-level, one for executives). These workshops will lead to the creation of a whitepaper arriving in the Fall, and are being led by Jen Weedon from our Braintrust.

Join a agentic AI workshop

How do we ensure the responsible development of quantum computing and artificial intelligence? If you are interested in the scientific utility of quantum simulations or the latest in AI governance, you’ll want to join our collaborative gathering with the Finnish Consulate in New York on July 15, which is bringing together global leaders from industry, academia, and the public sector. Curated for 75 individuals, we’ll conclude the panels, lightning talks, and networking with a reception at the Finnish Residence.

Express your interest for July 15

Three new speakers added to our Responsible Tech Summit!

We’re busy behind the scenes putting together our Responsible Tech Summit. This year’s theme is Embedding Accountability in the AI Era; we are thrilled to announce that Carrie Varoquiers, Alison Lee, and Kristin Hansen will be on stage, alongside Rumman Chowdhury, Cathy O’Neil, Eli Pariser, Camille François, Sinead Bovell, and many more.

This is quite the undertaking, so we are honored to have the support of Siegel Family Endowment, Workday, Mastercard, Microsoft, and the Civic Health Project. More partners to be announced shortly; reach out to learn more.

Livestream registration and in-person participation will be available in early June. Fill out our form below to share your ideas and express your interest.

Responsible Tech Summit

Friends of ATIH

• On May 19, the Denver/Boulder community is organizing an ATIHx gathering that anyone can join.

• On May 20, the Council on Tech and Social Cohesion is hosting our 2026 Global Expo. One event, eight hours, two segments designed to reach audiences from San Francisco to Jakarta. Bringing together technologists, civil society, researchers, regulators, and peacebuilders to mark a shift the field has been building toward for a while — moving away from harm mitigation and toward the intentional design of technology that fosters trust, collaboration, and peace. Register here.

• On May 21, Sherine Kazim will be speaking about All Tech Is Human’s ecosystem-building work at Stanford University for a Responsible AI workshop co-hosted by New Rising Ventures / New Media Ventures, Stanford Haas Center for Public Service, and Fast Forward.

• On May 26, the Barcelona community (ATIHx Barcelona) is putting together a Responsible Tech Unconference! Register here.

• On June 17, the Aspen Institute and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation are holding Shared Futures: The AI Forum at The Times Center in Manhattan, along with being livestreamed. All Tech Is Human’s David Ryan Polgar and Sandra Khalil will be there. Let us know if you will be as well.

ICYMI

• Emma Hatheway, an intern with All Tech Is Human, wrote a terrific piece for Tech Policy Press about the need for independent AI model testing.

• All Tech Is Human’s child safety work with Thorn, where we forged generative AI principles that received major industry commitments, was featured by the Australian government and its eSafety Commissioner as a case study for collaboration in its new toolkit, Designing for Safety: Preventing child sexual exploitation and abuse online. (How did we do this? You guessed it...coordination!)

🏗️Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about two workshops we are hosting on Agentic AI, in partnership with the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab. You’ll also learn about an AI & Philanthropy roundtable we are convening with Forum One on June 17, along with a Responsible AI Mixer in London on June 2. You’ll also read a new piece about building an AI evaluation for public services, which is looking for collaborators.

For those able to travel to NYC, we have a gathering this Wednesday with Reid Blackman, a collaboration with Cornell Tech on May 21 on non-consensual intimate imagery, and a July 15 gathering on Responsible AI & Quantum with the Finnish Consulate. We’re also continuing to build out our Responsible Tech Summit for the fall, which is shaping up to be a pivotal moment in the Responsible Tech movement.

All Tech Is Human has a very diverse global audience, which is why we are expanding our ATIHx program for independently organized gatherings to leverage our connective tools and status as the hub for the Responsible Tech movement. Recent gatherings were held in Oakland, Boston/Cambridge, and Denver/Boulder, and the ATIHx Barcelona group is organizing a Responsible Tech Unconference. By 2027, we’ll have dozens of communities having localized conversations that inform, inspire, and influence the larger global ecosystem and movement!

Reading today’s newsletter, you may notice that we do a lot of convening. This is quite intentional, because the Responsible Tech ecosystem doesn’t lack for ideas, people, or capital—but it does struggle with coordination. That’s where we stand out. Our work acts as a crucial coordination infrastructure, where our connective tissue org moves people out of silos and increases collaboration and alignment. This helps shape mental models, build trust across sectors, influence decision-makers upstream, and increase the effectiveness of the entire ecosystem.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

All Tech Is Human, in collaboration with the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab, is holding two workshops in July in NYC on Agentic AI

As artificial intelligence transitions from a passive tool to an active agent with the advent of agentic AI, the fundamental nature of how we work is undergoing a profound transformation. Here at All Tech Is Human, we recognize that this “Agentic Shift” is more than just a technological upgrade; it is a societal and organizational evolution that requires diverse perspectives and thoughtful stewardship. To help meet the moment, we are putting together two workshops.

This July, we are hosting a timely workshop series in New York City designed to bridge the gap between technological & business potential and real human experiences, ensuring that we adequately wrestle with the financial and ethical tensions inherent with this shift. Interested in participating? Learn more below.

This workshop series is being led by Jen Weedon, who recently joined All Tech Is Human’s Braintrust.

Learn more about the workshop series

Let us know about your interest

Interested in doing a workshop with All Tech Is Human? Learn more here.

Join our livestream on May 19

Please join us for a conversation with award-winning University of Oxford professor Carissa Véliz, who will be discussing her new book, Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI. Prophecy was named one of the ‘23 Books We’re Looking Forward to This Spring’ by the New York Times Book Review in 2026. Carissa also recently delivered a TED talk, Beware the Power of Prediction.

Carissa Véliz is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI, and a Fellow at Hertford College at the University of Oxford. Outside of Prophecy, her other books include Privacy Is Power and the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics.

Register for the livestream

Five upcoming gatherings:

We’re celebrating the release of Reid Blackman’s new book, The Ethical Nightmare Challenge! Reid will be in conversation with Sharon Goldman, AI reporter at Fortune.

Register for May 6

Be on the lookout for a popular Responsible Tech Summer Reading List arriving in June. Do you know of a book that should be listed? Submit your nominations here.

The rapid creation and spreading of deepfake intimate imagery is causing major havoc and pain.

This is a timely and important gathering at Cornell Tech in NYC, featuring Malika Saada Saar (Senior Fellow, Human Rights Law and Tech, Brown University), Rebecca Portnoff (Head of Data Science, Thorn), Miranda Wei (Fellow, Princeton CITP), Viraj Doshi (Platform Safety Lead, Snap), and moderator Alexios Mantzarlis (Director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, Co-Founder of Indicator).

Register for May 21

Join All Tech Is Human for a Responsible AI Community Mixer at the historic Old Spitalfields Market on June 2!

Part of the SXSW London schedule, this gathering is a hub for advocates, practitioners, and enthusiasts focused on Responsible Tech development. This mixer offers a unique opportunity for 150 non-SXSW badge holders to engage directly with the global community in attendance, fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue in one of London’s most vibrant cultural landmarks. Join host David Ryan Polgar (Founder and President of All Tech Is Human), who will be speaking on the "Reclaiming AI for the Public Good" panel at Protein Studios the next day. This mixer is being supported by Mastercard, which has been collaborating with All Tech Is Human on a framework for inter-party trust.

Join us in London

The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence presents a foundational moment for philanthropy and for civil society. Many organizations, however, are paralyzed by the hype surrounding AI, unsure of how to invest, implement, and govern the technology responsibly.

Our roundtable will convene a small group of senior foundation and nonprofit leaders for a candid dialogue about what AI adoption actually looks like at the leadership level: where it’s working, where the governance gaps are real, and how funders and implementers can move in closer alignment. This gathering is being organized by All Tech Is Human and Forum One.

We’re building on a similar roundtable we held last month that had participation from the Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, IREX, Bloomberg Philanthropies, NetHope, Project Evident, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and more.

Register your interest to join

👋Related: Sherine Kazim will be speaking about All Tech Is Human’s crucial role as an ecosystem-builder for a funder convening being organized by New Media Ventures and being held at Stanford University on May 21. Ping us to learn more.

All Tech Is Human, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Finland in New York, is putting together a highly curated gathering for 75 individuals across civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy. There will be two panel conversations and networking at the Finnish Consulate in New York, followed by a reception at the Finnish Residence near Central Park. This will be our third collaboration together, and these are always quite special and impactful.

Apply to join us July 15

We recently analyzed our large Responsible Tech Talent Pool:

We went through our Responsible Tech Talent Pool, where over 5.5k individuals have shared with us their backgrounds, pain points to advancement, and more, and offer five recommendations.

All Tech Is Human recently announced a partnership with Highspring, which will enable us to develop a global Responsible Tech talent engine. We’re leveraging and improving our popular Responsible Tech Job Board (115k views in the last 12 months), and increasing our talent matching capabilities.

Help us improve by taking our survey (candidates, employers, hiring managers).

See the talent pool analysis

Here is a new public interest technology project looking for feedback and involvement:

Trust in government is going down. Could we close the trust gap by putting leading AI models to the test against real policy and eligibility questions, and making their performances available publicly, evaluating them based on their accuracy, completeness, or reliability?

That’s what Jeremie Ponak has been testing, with open AI benchmarks on the public sector’s most important problems: benefits eligibility, service delivery, and healthcare. Jeremie started experimenting with SNAP eligibility, one of the most rule-intensive and high-stakes domains in government service delivery. Over 42 million Americans rely on SNAP. The policy is complex, it just went through a major legislative overhaul, and it’s exactly the kind of thing agencies are using AI for. This is the work that matters most to constituent experience, and it’s also the place today where a wrong answer directly harms someone.

Learn more below, and reach out if you’d like to be involved.

Learn more and get involved

Watch two recent livestreams we held:

We chatted with Faisal Lalani, Head of Global Partnerships at the Collective Intelligence Project, about who gets a voice in shaping the future of AI. We explored the digital divide, understanding public trust, and how AI could potentially be used as a tool to facilitate better democratic deliberation.

We recently chatted with Michelle Culver (Founder of The Rithm Project) and Alison Lee (Chief R&D Officer at The Rithm Project) about their newly released report, “Youth, AI, and the Relationships That Shape Them: Nine Portraits.” Drawing on insights from a large-scale study of 2,400 young people ages 13–24, the discussion focused on moving beyond simplistic narratives of AI as “good” or “bad” to examine what is unfolding in young people’s lives and why it matters.

🎊Congratulations to Rose Guingrich for becoming Dr. Rose Guingrich

If you have been following our work around AI chatbots and companions, you are likely familiar with the research of Rose Guingrich, who is an expert on the psychology of human-AI interaction. Over the last two years, Rose has been a Princeton Research Fellow with All Tech Is Human, leading livestreams on the topic and also contributing to our recent report, How to Tackle AI Companions.

🏗️Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

Why is connective tissue important? Because it ties together people and ideas that are typically siloed. Our work focuses on multistakeholder community-building, providing educational resources, and professionalizing the field, thereby weaving together the ecosystem and enabling collective action to define and co-create a tech future aligned with the public interest.

It’s all about social infrastructure. The health of the ecosystem relies on it.

In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about new speakers announced for our Responsible Tech Summit (October 29 in NYC), Trust & Safety expert Jen Weedon joining our Braintrust, a casual mixer in DC on April 27, and a global dialogue on emerging technologies gathering with the Finnish Consulate in New York on July 15. Be on the lookout for an announcement about two workshops on Agentic AI, and a large Responsible AI mixer we are organizing at SXSW London on June 2.

This Friday, we hope you can join our livestream with The Rithm Project about their new youth-focused research. We’ll also have a livestream on April 30 with the Collective Intelligence Project about ensuring public input in determining the future of AI.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

New speakers announced for the Responsible Tech Summit!

We’re busy behind-the-scenes creating a major gathering for the Responsible Tech movement, and we're thrilled to announce that Kathy Pham (VP of Artificial Intelligence and Open Technology, Workday), Alex Bores (Assemblymember, New York City’s 73rd District), Britta Holmberg (Deputy Secretary General and Program Director, World Childhood Foundation), and Amanda Craig (General Manager of Responsible AI Public Policy, Microsoft) will be on stage.

The Responsible Tech Summit is bringing together 375 leaders across civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy under the theme, Embedding Accountability in the AI Era. This year’s summit will be livestreamed to a global audience. For those looking to join in person at The New York Times Center in Manhattan, please use our form here to express interest.

Additional speakers for the Responsible Tech Summit include Rumman Chowdhury, Eli Pariser, Cathy O’Neil, Sinead Bovell, Ayah Bdeir, Anya Schiffrin, Renée Cummings, Joshua Elder, and Camille François.

Learn about the Responsible Tech Summit

Trust & Safety and Responsible AI leader Jen Weedon joins our Braintrust!

Our Braintrust is designed to quickly pull together world-class expertise at a wide range of intersections across Responsible AI and Trust & Safety for research, white papers, workshops, and more. Paired with All Tech Is Human’s broad multistakeholder network, our Braintrust allows us to pull together public understanding, renowned expertise, and powerful distribution of resources and insights to individuals across civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy.

Jen Weedon is a Trust and Safety, security, and Responsible AI leader with over 15 years of experience spanning intelligence, product development, and technology policy. She has led global efforts to address some of the most complex online harms, including child safety, human exploitation, influence operations, surveillance, and emerging AI risks, combining operational leadership with long-term strategy.

Learn about Jen Weedon

Two upcoming livestreams:

Join us this Friday at 1pm ET to discuss The Rithm Project’s newly released report, “Youth, AI, and the Relationships That Shape Them: Nine Portraits.” We’ll be joined by Michelle Culver (Founder of The Rithm Project) and Alison Lee (Chief R&D Officer, The Rithm Project).

All of our livestreams are recorded; everyone who registers will be sent the video directly after.

Join our livestream this Friday

We welcome Faisal Lalani (Head of Global Partnerships at the Collective Intelligence Project) to explore one of the most urgent questions of our time: who gets a voice in shaping artificial intelligence?

As AI systems increasingly influence daily life, this discussion will examine how to move beyond a narrow set of decision-makers and ensure that diverse communities, especially those historically underrepresented, have a meaningful role in guiding technological development. We will discuss practical pathways for incorporating public input into AI governance and why broad participation is essential to building a more equitable future.

Join our livestream on April 30

Four upcoming in-person gatherings:

For those in the DMV area, we hope you can join our casual Responsible Tech Mixer being held on Monday, April 27. We attract a very broad mix of attendees from all backgrounds and levels of experience coming together to tackle thorny tech & society issues and build community.

Say hello to ATIH founder David Ryan Polgar, who will be there, and let him know about your ideas for building a better tech future.

Join our Responsible Tech Mixer in DC!

Join us on May 6 for the book launch of The Ethical Nightmare Challenge: How to Avoid the Worst of AI. There will be a fireside chat between author Reid Blackman and Sharon Goldman (AI reporter at Fortune).

Join us on May 6

You may be reading the news about the plague of apps that allow for the easy spreading of deepfake intimate imagery, which has been a major problem in high schools concerning underage sexualized images.

All Tech Is Human has partnered with Cornell Tech for an in-person gathering that will feature Malika Saada Saar (Senior Fellow at Brown University), Rebecca Portnoff (Head of Data Science at Thorn), Miranda Wei (Fellow at Princeton CITP), Viraj Doshi (Platform Safety Lead at Snap, and moderator Alexios Mantzarlis.

Join us on May 21

Are you involved in reducing the spread of nudification apps? We are putting together a working group on the topic.

We’re thrilled to announce our third collaboration with the Consulate General of Finland in New York; we’re curating 75 leaders for Quantum Frontiers & Responsible AI: A Global Dialogue on Emerging Technologies.

Express your interest here

In Case You Missed It:

Why does harmful or irresponsible AI persist? What would it take to change course? Our livestream tackled one of the core challenges of responsible innovation: incentives. We were joined by Jessica Salinas (co-president of New Media Ventures and New Rising Ventures) and Catherine Feldman (Founder & Executive Director at the Digital Trust Council.

📺Theodora Skeadas, a tech policy consultant and advisor for All Tech Is Human, shares a comprehensive guide for navigating the evolving landscape of Responsible AI and tech policy. See the notes she refers to here.

🎊All Tech Is Human has partnered with Highspring to build a global Responsible Tech talent engine! Take our survey to employers, candidates, and hiring managers to help us improve our offerings. You’ll also be the first to receive curated talent matches.

📧All Tech Is Human will soon be announcing two workshops on Agentic AI. Would you like to partner with us to create a workshop? All Tech Is Human brings an extensive expert network, broad public engagement and understanding, and a powerful distribution model to all stakeholders. Email us.

🏗️Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

You’ll also see photos from our recent AI Governance workshop with Mastercard; our org is currently lining up additional workshops throughout 2026, so reach out to us if you’d like to collaborate. You’ll also see a video from our recent livestream on Age Assurance. Lastly, we’re assembling an online working group on nudification apps and sending out invitations for our AI & Philanthropy roundtable in Washington, DC, on April 16, and our Trust & Safety gathering at Cornell Tech on May 21.

We’re thrilled to see ATIHx gatherings happening across the globe, with upcoming ones in Oakland, Barcelona, and Denver. These are being organized through our Slack community, which will soon surpass 15,000 members (sign in | apply). And for our community in London, ATIH Founder David Ryan Polgar will be speaking at SXSW London on June 3rd and is organizing a 250-person mixer for June 2 in London.

🤔What do all of the above activities have in common?! We are laying the crucial social infrastructure that pushes the Responsible Tech movement forward. All Tech Is Human creates narrative infrastructure (framing the problem, shaping conversation), civic infrastructure (serving as the connective tissue between stakeholders), and the often-overlooked talent as infrastructure. If we’re going to make progress, we have to think holistically. Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

All Tech Is Human and Highspring are partnering to create a global talent engine for Responsible Tech.

Our vision is to transform this trusted community into a workforce intelligence engine that will fuel safer innovation, expand access to Responsible AI careers, and build the talent infrastructure for Responsible Tech. We’ll be connecting talent to opportunity, helping companies hire smarter, and generating real-time insights on skills, roles, and hiring trends.

We believe this partnership will yield the world’s most comprehensive data set on Responsible Tech hiring trends (e.g., which skills are in highest demand, average salaries for roles). This insight is valuable for policy-making, academic research, and employer understanding. Be on the lookout for insight reports in the near future.

Highspring will serve as our official partner for AI and Responsible Tech talent matching, helping connect organizations with talent across areas such as Trust & Safety, Responsible AI / AI Safety, Public Policy & Governance, Research & Academia, Nonprofit leadership, Business Operations & Program Leadership, Fellowships and emerging talent pathways, and C-level and executive leadership roles.

If your organization is hiring, please reach out to us to learn more. Together, we’re working to strengthen the global Responsible Tech workforce.

Read about the partnership

📆Related: ATIH advisor Theodora Skeadas is holding a Zoom conversation today (April 2) at 4pm ET on careers in Tech Policy, Responsible AI, and Trust & Safety.

Two upcoming livestreams:

The Incentive Problem: Rethinking How We Drive Responsible AI

Why does harmful or irresponsible AI persist? What would it take to change course? This 30-minute discussion TODAY at 1pm ET tackles one of the core challenges of responsible innovation: incentives. Join Jessica Salinas (New Rising Ventures and New Media Ventures) and Catherine Feldman (Digital Trust Council).

Join the livestream

We’re diving into The Rithm Project’s new report, Youth, AI, and the Relationships That Shape Them

Join our livestream on Friday, April 17 at 1pm ET to discuss The Rithm Project's new report, Youth, AI, and the Relationships That Shape Them: Nine Portraits.” We'll be joined by Michelle Culver, Founder of the Rithm Project, and Alison Lee, The Rithm Project's Chief R&D Officer. Michelle and Alison are two of the leading voices at the intersection of youth development, technology, and human connection.

Drawing on insights from their large-scale study of 2,400 young people ages 13–24, the discussion will move beyond simplistic narratives of AI as “good” or “bad” to examine what is unfolding in young people’s lives and why it matters. We'll be diving into the gray area on how AI is shaping social lives, emotional wellbeing, and the relationships that surround young people today. Join in!

Join our livestream

Last week, All Tech Is Human and Mastercard held an AI Governance Workshop: Inter-Party Trust in AI Systems. This all-day gathering had participation from Responsible AI practitioners and leaders from Accenture, Apple, Booz Allen Hamilton, Colgate-Palmolive, Cornell Tech, Deloitte, EY, Google, IBM, IEE, Harvard Kennedy School, Mastercard, Microsoft, Partnership on AI, TD Bank, TikTok, UNDP, Workday, and more. It was great to continue our partnership with John Hearty, Alayna Kennedy, and the Mastercard team.

👋We’re currently setting up additional workshops. Would you like to collaborate with us? Learn about our workshops here.

We’re building something quite special with the upcoming Responsible Tech Summit. What would the Davos of Responsible Tech look like? How about an UNGA for the Responsible Tech movement? Yeah, we’re thinking big. Reach out to us if you’d like to be involved.

Our upcoming Responsible Tech Summit is a major undertaking for our organization, as we are aiming to build a high-level gathering of Responsible Tech leaders across civil government, government, industry, and academia. Under the theme of Embedding Accountability in the AI Era, we recently announced speakers including Rumman Chowdhury, Cathy O’Neil, Eli Pariser, Camille François, Sinead Bovell, Renée Cummings, Ayah Bdeir, Joshua Elder, Anya Schiffrin, and Julie Cordua.

We are excited to announce that Workday, Mastercard, and GitHub will be partners/sponsors for this year’s summit. Their support, along with others to be announced soon, is directly helping us elevate the production, expand participation (curated for 375), and programming, and create multiple gatherings on the margins. We will also be livestreaming the summit globally for the first time!

Learn about the Responsible Tech Summit

All Tech Is Human’s popular Responsible Tech Author Series is back, celebrating the release of Reid Blackman‘s upcoming book, The Ethical Nightmare Challenge. In his latest book, AI ethics expert Reid Blackman reveals why the standard approach to AI governance is “utterly inadequate” and destined to fall apart. Whether you are a CEO, a developer, or leading a department or project, you are now part of an ecosystem where so many decisions lead to unpredictable, high-stakes outcomes. Join us!

Join us May 6

If you missed our last livestream, watch below:

As conversations around youth safety online intensify, All Tech Is Human recently hosted a timely livestream, “Beyond Parental Controls: Rethinking Age Assurance & Digital Agency for Youth,” featuring experts Anneke Buffone (CLARA) and Vaishnavi J (Vys).

Anneke and Vaishnavi emphasized the need for a more holistic approach to age assurance; one that integrates privacy-preserving technologies, independent accountability, and developmentally appropriate product design. A key takeaway: protecting young people online isn’t about choosing between safety and privacy; it’s about designing systems that meaningfully support both, while also empowering youth with digital agency.

🏗️Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Responsible AI courses | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply)

We hope you can join us this Thursday, March 19, for our livestream on Age Assurance, along with our April 2 livestream on rethinking how we drive Responsible AI. And for those focused on AI Assurance, we’re getting ready for our March 26 workshop in NYC on building inter-party trust in AI with our partner Mastercard.

📆Additionally, on April 16, we’re holding an off-the-record roundtable for senior foundation and nonprofit leaders for a candid dialogue about AI adoption. We’re also having a Responsible Tech Mixer + Fireside Chat with Reid Blackman on May 6 in NYC, and a collaborative gathering with Cornell Tech on May 21 on online safety. There are also a ton of ATIHx gatherings happening, including one in Oakland, and activities being planned for London. Jump on our Slack to take part (sign in | apply).

Lastly, we’re busy making our upcoming Responsible Tech Summit on October 29 into the premier gathering for the movement, along with putting together a working group on tackling nudification apps that will start meeting online in April.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

Two upcoming livestreams:

Join us TODAY (Thursday, March 19) at 1pm ET to discuss the hotly debated topic of Age Assurance. Everyone who registers will be sent the video recording right after.

In this livestream, Anneke Buffone, PhD, a behavioral and computational social scientist and founder of CLARA (Clear AI Risk Assurance), will be joined by Vaishnavi J, the founder of Vys, a youth safety product advisory that helps companies in gaming, social media, marketplaces, edtech, and AI design safe, engaging, and compliant experiences for young users. They will discuss some of the issues related to the conventional thinking around age assurance and outline a more independent, research-driven path forward.

Register for the livestream

Vaishnavi is also a member of our Braintrust, so to us with youth safety-related project ideas.

🤔Why does harmful or irresponsible AI persist? What would it take to change course? This discussion tackles one of the core challenges of responsible innovation: incentives. Jessica Salinas (Co-President of New Rising Ventures and New Media Ventures) brings deep experience in backing mission-driven entrepreneurs and shaping investment strategies that prioritize long-term social impact, informed by her leadership at New Rising Ventures and New Media Ventures.

Catherine Feldman (Executive Director and Founder of the Digital Trust Council; affiliate at Harvard Berkman Klein Center and All Tech Is Human) approaches the problem from the systems level, asking how organizations can be motivated to build responsibly in the first place. Through her work at the Digital Trust Council creating AI certification frameworks and leading multinational collaborations, she offers a forward-looking vision for embedding trust and accountability into the DNA of innovation before harm occurs.

Register for the livestream

Three upcoming gatherings

The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence presents a foundational moment for philanthropy and for civil society. There is a major tension, as organizations are paralyzed by the hype surrounding AI and are unsure of how to invest, implement, and govern the technology responsibly.

This off-the-record roundtable will convene twenty senior foundation and nonprofit leaders for a candid dialogue about what AI adoption actually looks like at the leadership level: where it’s working, where the governance gaps are real, and how funders and implementers can move in closer alignment.

This gathering is being organized by All Tech Is Human and Forum One and will take place on April 16 from 3-7pm ET. To express your interest and/or share your ideas, please fill out our form below. Invitations start arriving on Friday.

AI & Philanthropy interest form

🎊All Tech Is Human's popular Responsible Tech Author Series is back! Reid Blackman, author of Ethical Machines, has a new book The Ethical Nightmare Challenge. Our gatherings always reach capacity, so register to join this Responsible Tech Mixer + the fireside chat with Reid. A big thank you to BrainStation for hosting this gathering in NYC!

Register here

🎙️Related: All Tech Is Human's own founder David Ryan Polgar was interviewed by Reid for his Ethical Machines Podcast. Listen here.

​This collaborative gathering with Cornell Tech (NYC) will bring together a mixture of Trust and Safety professionals, researchers, academics, students, civil society orgs, and more for a discussion about platforms, regulations, and non-consensual intimate imagery.

We’ve lined up an incredible panel featuring Malika Saada Saar (Senior Fellow, Human Rights Law and Tech at Brown University), Rebecca Portnoff (Head of Data Science at Thorn), Miranda Wei (Fellow at Princeton CITP), Viraj Doshi (Platform Safety Lead at Snap), and moderator Alexios Mantzarlis (Director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative and Co-Founder of Indicator).

Register for the gathering

🔭Be on the lookout for upcoming announcements about our Responsible Tech Summit!

In our last newsletter, we announced the first ten speakers for our Responsible Tech Summit. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that Columbia World Projects and Forum One are our strategic partners, helping us shape this year’s summit into the premier gathering for the Responsible Tech movement. We’re all about cross-sector collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas, bringing together civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy.

On April 1, we will be announcing our first batch of partners/sponsors. On April 15, we will be announcing additional speakers. We are using months of planning to build programming that will be livestreamed to thousands, along with laying the foundation for future expansion. Curious to learn more? Send us an email.

Learn about the Responsible Tech Summit

If you missed our last livestream, watch below:

We know that AI is disrupting nearly every profession. What about the role of being a lawyer? All Tech Is Human held a livestream exploring the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and the legal profession. We were joined by two leading voices from Linklaters, one of the world’s premier global law firms: Sarah Barnard, Firmwide Director of AI Delivery, and Toby Irenshtain, AI Lawyer for the Americas. Together, they offered a rare inside look at what “AI lawyering” actually means in practice.

Did You Know?

💂We are having a lot of people asking us about our next gathering in London. We’re gathering interest for individuals to help kickstart ATIHx London, along with helping lay the groundwork for All Tech Is Human gatherings. David Ryan Polgar will be speaking at SXSW London on June 3 in the “New Human Experiences & AI” track.

🗣️Ava Smithing, an inaugural ATIH affiliate, is interviewing Jonathan Haidt live on stage in NYC on March 31 for her podcast, Left to Their Own Devices. There will be a community organization showcase featuring Berkman Klein Center, Design It For Us, ReThink Citizens, #HalfTheStory, Young People’s Alliance, Heat Initiative, and more!

🎤We’re always looking for livestream ideas and speaker recommendations. Let us know your ideas here!

🏗️Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Our Year in Review | Email us | Donate | Careers newsletter

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply).

*Learn about our ATIHx program

We’re also excited to announce the launch of our Responsible AI Foundations Professional Certificate through LinkedIn Learning; we’re aiming to create additional courses throughout 2026, so reach out our way if you have ideas for collaboration, or would like to sponsor future courses.

📰In today’s newsletter. you’ll also read about our upcoming livestream on AI & Law (March 5) and Age Assurance (March 19). We’re also sending out invitations to NYC workshop on inter-party trust in AI with Mastercard, and are gathering interest for our working group on nudification apps.

For in-person gatherings, we’re collaborating with Forum One to put together AI & Philanthropy – A Strategic Leadership Forum on April 16 in Washington, DC, and our a partner for a March 12 NYC-area event on online scams featuring New York Attorney General Letitia James. And for those of you in the Bay Area, we didn’t forget about you. There will be a ATIHx gathering in Oakland in late April.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

We building the premiere gathering for the global Responsible Tech movement

On October 29, All Tech Is Human will convene the Responsible Tech Summit at The New York Times Center in Manhattan, bringing together leaders from across the Responsible Tech ecosystem for a day of dialogue, collaboration, and action. The summit will serve as the premiere gathering for the global Responsible Tech movement, connecting voices from civil society, government, industry, academia, and philanthropy who are working to ensure technology advances in ways that align with the public interest.

At a time when artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping society, the conversation is shifting from broad principles to real-world accountability. The 2026 summit will center around the theme “From Principles to Power: Embedding Accountability in the AI Era.” For years, the Responsible Tech field has been guided by ethical frameworks, voluntary commitments, and emerging standards. Today, the challenge is clear: how do we translate those ideas into systems of governance, oversight, and design that ensure innovation does not come at the expense of safety, rights, or trust?

The Responsible Tech Summit is designed as a highly curated convening for 375 leaders that helps align and shape the direction of the movement. Participants will include global governance leaders, AI researchers, industry practitioners, policy experts, civil society advocates, and philanthropic leaders who are building the infrastructure of accountability for the digital age. Through keynotes, panels, and conversations, attendees will explore topics such as accountability by design, platform oversight, youth online safety, the Responsible Tech economy, and the evolving global regulatory landscape.

This will be the first Responsible Tech Summit that will be livestreamed and we’re looking forward to welcoming more people from across the globe. The event page is being released in our next newsletter, so stay tuned for more info and more speaker announcements!

Building on previous summits that have featured leading thinkers such as Sherry Turkle, Tim Wu, Frances Haugen, Justin Hendrix, Amba Kak, Rob Reich, Nora Benavidez, Nina Jankowicz, Yael Eisenstat, Jameel Jaffer, Melissa Fleming, Katie Harbath, and Nabiha Syed, the 2026 gathering will continue to elevate the voices shaping the future of technology governance. Confirmed speakers include leaders such as Rumman Chowdhury, Cathy O’Neil, Eli Pariser, Camille François, Sinead Bovell, Renée Cummings, Ayah Bdeir, Joshua Elder, Anya Schiffrin, Julie Cordua.

Want to be involved? Reach out here.

Learn about the Responsible Tech Summit

Two upcoming livestreams to attend:

How is AI changing the role of lawyers? All Tech Is Human is hosting a special 30-minute livestream exploring the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and the legal profession. Join us this Thursday, March 5!

Join our AI & Law livestream

Let's talk about Age Assurance! Join us for our livestream on Thursday, March 19th at 1pm ET for Beyond Parental Controls: Rethinking Age Assurance & Digital Agency for Youth.

We will be welcoming expert Anneke Buffone, PhD, a behavioral and computational social scientist and the founder of CLARA (Clear AI Risk Assurance). Before founding CLARA, Anneke spent nearly seven years at Meta, where her final two years focused on cross-platform age assurance research across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Drawing on this experience, Anneke brings rare insight into how technical systems and human behavior interact to shape youth experiences online. Now, through CLARA, she is pioneering independent, ethically funded safety research (combining surveys, interviews, red team testing, and real-world data) to develop actionable safety taxonomies, platform ranking systems, and interventions that help kids build digital agency and literacy.

🤔Do you have a suggestion for a future livestream? Let us know here!

Join our Age Assurance livestream

In-Person Gathering:

The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence presents a foundational moment for philanthropy and for civil society. AI is no longer a future consideration — it is actively reshaping how nonprofits deliver services, how foundations evaluate impact, and how both make decisions about resource allocation. And yet many organizations are paralyzed by the hype surrounding AI, unsure of how to invest, implement, and govern the technology responsibly.

This off-the-record roundtable will convene a small group of senior foundation and nonprofit leaders for a candid dialogue about what AI adoption actually looks like at the leadership level: where it’s working, where the governance gaps are real, and how funders and implementers can move in closer alignment.

This gathering is being organized by All Tech Is Human and Forum One and will take place on April 16 from 3-7pm. To express your interest and/or share your ideas, please fill out our form below.

AI & Philanthropy interest form

AI is transforming every industry, and responsible deployment requires both technical knowledge and ethical frameworks. This learning path equips technologists, product managers, and policy professionals with skills to identify AI risks, implement governance structures, and ensure accountability across predictive, generative, and agentic systems.

Our courses are taught by two incredible leaders in Responsible AI, Renée Cummings and Rebekah Tweed.

You'll take:
📌Governing Agentic AI Systems
📌History of Responsible AI: From Principles to Professionalization
📌Operationalizing AI Governance: Strategy and Foundations
📌Principles of Responsible AI: Identifying, Understanding, and Mitigating Risks

Our work developing these courses stems from the support of The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

Responsible AI Professional Certificate

Upcoming in-person workshop and online working group

🗣️We are putting together an all-day workshop in NYC to be held on Thursday, March 26, that will focus on the central question: What should a framework for inter-party trust entail? We are aiming to create meaningful standardization, ideal metrics, benchmarks, and documentation practices to demonstrate that an AI system is accurate and effective. This workshop is being done in collaboration with Mastercard. Express your interest through our form above; this workshop is being led by ATIH advisor Leah Ferentinos.

✍️Are you involved in reducing the prevalence and harms associated with nudification apps? Join our online working group, which will be creating an actionable guide (”How to Tackle Nudification Apps”) that provides an overview, unpacking the complexity of the topic (design, education, regulation, hosting, financial transactions, etc.), and multistakeholder recommendations. Related to this topic, we have partnered with Cornell Tech for a May 21 gathering exploring the TAKE IT DOWN Act.

If you missed our last livestream, watch below:

We recently welcomed Numa Dhamani (Head of Machine Learning at iVerify) and Maggie Engler (Member of Technical Staff at Microsoft AI), who are the authors of Introduction to Generative AI--now in the second edition. We went beyond the hype and dug into the need for interdisciplinary teams, humans in the loop, and our tendency to anthropomorphize our AI interactions.

🏗️Together, we’re building a better tech future.

⭐ Our projects & links | Our Year in Review | Email us | Donate

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply).

In this powerful talk, Alexis Crews (our recent Senior Fellow for Information Integrity) pulls back the curtain on what she calls the “Invisible War” shaping our digital age. This is where power over democracy is increasingly negotiated; not at the ballot box, but in closed-door conversations between governments and technology companies.

📰In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about our livestream this Thursday on generative AI, an upcoming livestream on AI & Law, a new working group on unpacking and preventing harms from nudification apps, and a related gathering in NYC on May 21 centered on the TAKE IT DOWN Act. We also have ATIHx gatherings being organized across the globe, with an upcoming one happening in Barcelona. Join our Slack community of 14k members across 115 countries to connect and collaborate with the robust and diverse Responsible Tech ecosystem.

You’ll also see our upcoming all-day workshop on building inter-party trust in AI on March 26 (NYC), reflections from our participation in an online safety roundtable with Senators Murphy and Blumenthal, and a video of Tim Wu and Julia Angwin in conversation from our collaboration with Columbia World Projects.

We’re also busy behind the scenes planning our Responsible Tech Summit for October 29 at The New York Times Center in Manhattan, which will stream to our global network. We’ll be announcing the first batch of speakers on March 4.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

Let’s move beyond the hype with generative AI

Generative AI has evolved rapidly over the past few years — from the rise of AI agents and reasoning models to growing debates around safety, labor, and regulation. In this livestream, authors Maggie Engler and Numa Dhamani discuss the second edition of Introduction to Generative AI, what’s changed since the first edition, and how to think clearly about generative AI beyond the hype. The conversation will explore the evolving landscape of AI development, risk, and governance, and what it means to engage with these systems critically and responsibly.

Join our livestream this Thursday

We are putting together an all-day workshop in NYC to be held on Thursday, March 26, that will focus on the central question: What should a framework for inter-party trust entail? We are aiming to create meaningful standardization, ideal metrics, benchmarks, and documentation practices to demonstrate that an AI system is accurate and effective. Invitations will be going out this week.

An inter-party trust framework for Responsible AI is a structured, collaborative approach that is designed to ensure AI systems are ethical, secure, and transparent across different organizations, stakeholders, and ecosystems. It aims to move beyond theoretical principles to operationalize trust through continuous monitoring, risk management, and shared accountability.

The workshop will lead to the publication of a workshop summary report, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive framework of inter-party trust, and will include takeaways and steps for implementation.

Our workshop is in collaboration with Mastercard. This is a curated workshop for 50 individuals, which will be a mix of industry (mid/senior level), academics, and more.

Apply to join our workshop on March 26

How is AI changing the role of lawyers?

All Tech Is Human is hosting a special 30-minute livestream exploring the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and the legal profession.

We’ll be joined by two leading voices from Linklaters, one of the world’s premier global law firms: Sarah Barnard, Firmwide Director of AI Delivery, and Toby Irenshtain, AI Lawyer for the Americas. Together, they’ll offer a rare inside look at what “AI lawyering” actually means in practice—from firmwide strategy and governance to building and piloting tools directly with legal teams.

Join our livestream on March 5

💡Related: AI is disrupting the workplace and altering numerous careers. All Tech Is Human’s Responsible Tech Job Board and our Responsible Tech Careers newsletter have been documenting a rapidly-evolving landscape.

📆Are you looking to learn how to grow your career in Trust & Safety, Responsible AI, or Tech Policy? ATIH advisor Theodora Skeadas (Head of Red Teaming at Human Intelligence, advisor with Integrity Institute) is having a Zoom presentation on March 4 at 5pm ET that you can join here.

Youth Voices, Legislative Momentum, and the Future of Online Safety

All Tech Is Human was honored to be represented in a recent roundtable on youth online safety organized by Senator Chris Murphy and The Rowan Center. In attendance were Senator Murphy, Senator Richard Blumenthal, CT Governor Ned Lamont, representatives from World Without Exploitation, Common Sense Media, and youth who spoke with striking honesty and self-awareness.

Representing All Tech Is Human was Emma Hatheway, who authored a recent post examining the duty of care framework underpinning the Kids Online Safety Act (see in comments). This conversation also fell in the wake of our recent AI Companions report, featuring design and policy recommendations.

Read more here

🔎Related News: In our last newsletter, we announced that child safety expert Vaishnavi J is joining our Braintrust! Reach out to us about online safety projects.

👋Are you involved in reducing the prevalence and harms associated with nudification apps? Join our online working group, which will be creating an actionable guide (”How to Tackle Nudification Apps”) that provides an overview, unpacking the complexity of the topic (design, education, regulation, hosting, financial transactions, etc.), and multistakeholder recommendations.

📆All Tech Is Human and Cornell Tech’s Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative (SETS) will host an event on May 21 at Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island campus around the TAKE IT DOWN Act. The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a 2025 U.S. federal law criminalizing the nonconsensual sharing of intimate images (NCII) and digital forgeries (deepfakes), This follows our recent livestream with Malika Saada Saar on Slow Violence, Fast Tech: Reclaiming AI for Civil and Human Rights.

🗣️ATIH’s David Ryan Polgar will be speaking on MS NOW today at 3:15pm ET about the social media trials and also at the Counterintuitive Institute’s Driving Positive Disruption: Uniting for Safety in the Digital Age this Friday at 10:45am ET.

☝️All Tech Is Human’s recent livestream brought together experts from All Tech Is Human and the Center for News, Technology & Innovation (CNTI) to explore the rapidly growing world of AI chatbots and emotionally responsive AI companions.

📺We recently partnered with Columbia World Projects on The Extraction Economy: Platforms, Power, and the Fight for Prosperity. Watch the fireside chat between Julia Angwin and Tim Wu above!

🧠Thorny tech & society issues require a whole-of-ecosystem approach to effect change.

⭐ Our projects & links | Our Year in Review | Email us | Donate | About us

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply).

📆We hope you can join us this Thursday, February 5th at 12pm ET for a livestream about AI companions and chatbots, along with our February 19th livestream on Generative AI. We are also seeking applications for our workshop on creating inter-party trust in AI, as well as setting up gatherings in London and San Francisco behind the scenes. In today’s newsletter, you’ll also see our new actionable guide on tackling AI companions, an announcement that Vaishnavi J is joining our Braintrust, an analysis of online safety frameworks by Emma Hatheway, and a video from our recent livestream with Malika Saada Saar.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

What should a framework for inter-party trust entail?

At our last Responsible Tech Summit, we assembled a broad panel of experts to explore some of the thorny governance challenges facing AI. Building on our continuous engagement and learning, we are putting together an all-day workshop in NYC to be held on Thursday, March 26th, that will focus on the central question: What should a framework for inter-party trust entail? We are aiming to create meaningful standardization, ideal metrics, benchmarks, and documentation practices to demonstrate that an AI system is accurate and effective.

Generally speaking, an inter-party trust framework for Responsible AI is a structured, collaborative approach that is designed to ensure AI systems are ethical, secure, and transparent across different organizations, stakeholders, and ecosystems. It aims to move beyond theoretical principles to operationalize trust through continuous monitoring, risk management, and shared accountability.

The workshop will lead to the publication of a workshop summary report, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive framework of inter-party trust, and will include takeaways and steps for implementation.

Our workshop is in collaboration with Mastercard. This is a curated workshop for 50 individuals, which will be a mix of industry (mid/senior level), academics, and more.

Apply to join our March 28th workshop

Download our new actionable guide to tackling AI companions

AI companions are not neutral tools. They are sociotechnical systems that can shape beliefs, emotions, and behavior at scale, especially for vulnerable populations. Therefore, this thorny tech & society issue requires governance approaches that go beyond traditional product safety thinking.

Our new guide is essential reading for policymakers, technologists, civil society leaders, and investors who want to move beyond vague concerns about AI companions and toward concrete, implementable safeguards. We’re translating complex risks into clear standards, red flags, and best practices, making it especially valuable for anyone shaping or evaluating emotionally interactive AI systems today—before harmful norms and incentives become locked in.

How to Tackle AI Companions frames AI companions as a “thorny tech & society issue” that sits at the intersection of psychology, ethics, law, business incentives, and human relationships. Drawing on our recent community pulse survey data and multidisciplinary analysis, our guide offers concrete, actionable guardrails using All Tech Is Human’s HUMAN framework, including preventing emotional substitution, prohibiting emotional manipulation for engagement or profit, enforcing privacy-by-default for intimate data, and closing accountability gaps across the AI lifecycle.

We also cover “what to avoid” and “what good looks like” in Responsible AI companions, grounding abstract ethics debates in practical design, policy, and governance recommendations. This was adapted from our recent report, AI Companions: Community Reflections and Multistakeholder Recommendations from All Tech Is Human, which involved the collaboration of over 25 experts from the Responsible Tech community.

Download How to Tackle AI Companions

🤯Go full meta with our guide by listening to an AI-generated podcast conversation about it.

Let’s talk about AI companions and chatbots

Join our livestream this Thursday at 12pm ET as we welcome Jay Barchas-Lichtenstein and Prabhat Mishra from the Center for News, Technology & Innovation, discussing their latest report on AI chatbots, alongside Leah Ferentinos (Strategic Advisor for ATIH) and David Ryan Polgar (Founder & President of ATIH), discussing our recent report.

We’ll be exploring the social, ethical, and governance implications of these increasingly prevalent AI systems, drawing on community reflections from both reports and your questions.

Join Thursday's Livestream!

We are thrilled to announce that child safety expert Vaishnavi J is joining our Braintrust

Vaishnavi J is a leading expert at the intersection of youth, technology, and digital wellbeing. With over 16 years of experience building product and policy solutions at Meta, Google, and Twitter, she is a trusted advisor to executives and boards navigating high-stakes decisions around age-appropriate design, regulation, and AI risk.

She is the founder and principal of Vys, the advisory firm tech companies turn to when youth safety, age-appropriate design, and youth AI risks become business-critical. We are thrilled to welcome her to our Braintrust, which is designed to tackle complex tech & society issues by leveraging collective insight, subject matter expertise, and powerful distribution of recommendations and takeaways to all stakeholders.

📺See a video of Vaishnavi J speaking at an ATIH gathering we did in partnership with Safe Online on Ensuring a Safe Online Experience for Youth.

“Duty of Care” is becoming a hot topic affecting online safety frameworks

Duty of Care shifts responsibility onto technology companies to proactively anticipate and mitigate harms through design and systems, rather than reacting to individual harmful posts afterward.

Duty of Care has become central to modern online safety regulation in response to growing evidence that social media and digital platforms can contribute to real-world harms, especially for young people. In this new piece, Emma Hatheway takes a deep dive into Duty of Care and examines the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) and the U.S. Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which both rely on this framework but differ in their approaches.

Emma’s piece examines the importance of HOW Duty of Care is enforced, and whether success is measured by improved wellbeing rather than mere compliance. As she writes about, this will determine whether these laws meaningfully protect users, especially vulnerable youth, without unintended negative consequences.

Read the analysis

How do we engage with Generative AI critically and responsibly? Join our livestream to discuss.

Generative AI has evolved rapidly over the past few years — from the rise of AI agents and reasoning models to growing debates around safety, labor, and regulation. In this livestream, authors Maggie Engler (Member of Technical Staff, Microsoft AI) and Numa Dhamani (Head of Machine Learning at iVerify) discuss the second edition of Introduction to Generative AI, what’s changed since the first edition, and how to think clearly about generative AI beyond the hype. The conversation will explore the evolving landscape of AI development, risk, and governance, and what it means to engage with these systems critically and responsibly.

Join our livestream on Feb 19

How can we reclaim AI for civil and human rights?

“If we don’t claim this technology as ours as well, then we only cede it to the abusers. We allow it to be weaponized against us. The question is how we shape it, design it, and deploy it in a way that serves our dignity, equality, and democracy.” -Malika Saada Saar

Our recent livestream “Slow Violence, Fast Tech: Reclaiming AI for Civil and Human Rights” featured human rights lawyer and policy strategist Malika Saada Saar in a wide-ranging discussion on how artificial intelligence can quietly but profoundly undermine fundamental rights if not governed responsibly. Malika framed AI through the lens of human rights history, emphasizing that dignity and rights are inherent to being human and not granted by states or technologies. Drawing from environmental justice, she described AI-driven harm as a form of “slow violence”: incremental, normalized, and often invisible erosion of rights such as privacy, free expression, freedom of assembly, and bodily autonomy. These harms, she argued, become especially dangerous because they are embedded in everyday systems and institutions before society fully recognizes their impact.

📅All Tech Is Human will be doing more work in the coming weeks and months on nudificaiton apps, NCII, and more. Be on the lookout for opportunities to get involved.

🧠Thorny tech & society issues ARE systemic problems. We need all brains on deck.

⭐ Our projects & links | Our Year in Review | Email us | Donate | About us

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply).

🎊Today, we are thrilled to release our new AI Companions report, which gleans insight from our community survey, the participation of over 25 experts, and learnings from recent livestreams, panels, and our previous analysis that identified six areas of concern. We also have an upcoming livestream to discuss the report.

We hope you can join our livestream on January 29th, as well as our gathering on February 3rd with Columbia University. Our team is busy setting up workshops, livestreams, resources, and gatherings related to Responsible AI and Trust & Safety, so do reach out to us with your ideas.

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

People are talking about AI companions. We provide a human-centered roadmap for action.

Our report combines lived experiences, cross-disciplinary insight, and governance expertise to clarify and unpack this thorny tech & society issue. Our goal is to ensure AI companions augment human flourishing rather than undermine social connection, autonomy, and trust.

Grounded in All Tech Is Human’s HUMAN framework (Holistic, United, Multiplied, Adaptable, Nuanced), our report offers concrete, actionable guardrails and recommendations for policymakers, companies, civil society, and researchers. This is a rapidly evolving issue, so we are seeking feedback, resources we should be aware of, and project ideas for continued work on AI companions.

SECTIONS INCLUDE:
📌Overview of AI Companions
📌How Does the Community Feel about AI Companions?
📌Negative Aspects of AI Companions
📌Positive Aspects of AI Companions
📌AI Companions Are a Thorny Tech & Society Issue
📌HUMAN Framework
📌Recommended Guardrails
📌What to Avoid: High-Risk AI Companion Practices
📌What Good Looks Like: Responsible AI Companions in Practice
📌How Different Disciplines Approach AI Companions
📌Quotes from the Survey
📌Continued Learning

We’d like to extend a thank you to Siegel Family Endowment; their support allows our organization to do this important work.

Read the AI companions report!

👋Are you looking for bonus points to have a positive 2026? Help share our report with other people and organizations that you think would benefit from it.

📆 You’ve likely been following recent news about harmful images generated by Grok. On May 21, we’re continuing our collaboration with Alexios Mantzarlis and Cornell Tech’s Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative with a gathering at Cornell Tech focused on the TAKE IT DOWN Act. Interested? Fill out our interest form.

Join our livestream on AI Companions and Chatbots on February 5

Join All Tech Is Human (ATIH) and the Center for News, Technology & Innovation (CNTI) for a joint livestream examining key insights from their latest reports on AI companions and chatbots. The discussion will explore the social, ethical, and governance implications of these increasingly prevalent AI systems, drawing on community reflections from ATIH’s AI Companions report and findings from CNTI’s research on AI chatbots and news consumption in the U.S. and India.

AI companions and chatbots livestream

Slow Violence, Fast Tech: Reclaiming AI for Civil and Human Rights

Join us January 29th at 1pm ET for a virtual discussion with Malika Saada Saar (human rights lawyer, technology policy strategist, and global leader) exploring how AI’s slow violence is hollowing out hard-won human rights—often incrementally and out of sight—and why civil and human rights communities must actively claim, shape, and leverage this technology in service of our rights and human dignity. The conversation will also highlight the work of the Howard Law AI Initiative Justice Lab, which is seeking to create critical space and opportunity for rights-based innovation grounded in Howard Law’s historic legacy of advancing racial justice and training generations of civil rights leaders.

Register for our livestream

📆Related event: All Tech Is Human’s Founder & President, David Ryan Polgar, will deliver the keynote address at the Counterintuitive Institute’s Summit on February 20 (Driving Positive Disruption: Uniting for Safety in the Digital Age), being held both online and in Sofia, Bulgaria. Learn more and sign up here.

Are you joining us on February 3rd in NYC?

Hosted by Columbia World Projects, in collaboration with All Tech Is Human, the dynamic in-person conversation between Tim Wu (author of The Age of Extraction, Columbia Law School professor and former White House official) and Julia Angwin (award-winning investigative journalist and founder of Proof News), will dig into how platform power has transformed whole sectors of the economy, how emerging AI systems may accelerate inequality, and what bold legal, institutional, and civic interventions are needed to build a more democratic digital future.

Register for February 3 in NYC

We had an excellent gathering last Monday in NYC for a Responsible Tech Mixer + Live Podcast Taping that featured Hilke Schellmann (author of The Algorithm) in conversation with Jennifer Strong. The conversation is featured on Jennifer’s podcast, SHIFT, which you can listen to below.

Watch all 15 interviews by Al for All Tomorrows from our Responsible Tech Summit!

Our friends at AI for All Tomorrows conducted a wide range of red carpet interviews at our most recent Responsible Tech Summit.

Watch the video series!

📆On the horizon: All Tech Is Human’s next Responsible Tech Summit will be held on October 29, 2026 at The Times Center in Manhattan for 375 leaders.

📆All Tech Is Human is pleased to partner with Marketplace Risk for its 2026 conferences. Marketplace Risk’s Austin Conference 2026 will take place on February 25, 2026, bringing together leaders from digital platforms, fintechs, digital wallets, super apps, and SaaS companies for a full day of learning, networking, and innovation. The conference will focus on digital risk, including critical areas such as Trust & Safety, compliance, fraud prevention, regulation, and more, with expert-led sessions and practical, real-world insights from across the ecosystem. Learn more.

🌹Thorny tech & society issues ARE systemic problems. Let’s do this, together.

⭐ Our projects & links | Our Year in Review | Email us | Donate | About us

🦜 Looking to chat with others in Responsible Tech after reading our newsletter? Join the conversations happening on our Slack (sign in | apply).

💪 All Tech Is Human is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a more responsible, inclusive, and ethical tech future by uniting a broad range of people and ideas across civil society, government, industry, and academia. Our whole-of-ecosystem approach brings together technologists, academics, civil society leaders, and everyday individuals to collaboratively address complex challenges around AI governance, digital rights, platform accountability, and the broader social impacts of technology.

💡Learn more about our ATIHx program here.

📰In today's newsletter, you'll find details about our upcoming January 29 livestream on AI and human rights, two upcoming gatherings in New York City, and the first announced member of our new Braintrust. The Braintrust is designed to bring together a diverse range of expertise that complements our broad public engagement and multistakeholder distribution. As a refresher, we're also sharing our Year in Review, which outlines our plans moving forward.

We’re busy lining up workshops around Responsible AI and Trust & Safety issues, along with setting up gatherings in London and San Francisco. There are also upcoming ATIHx gatherings happening in Philadelphia and Barcelona. And for those who will be in Davos for the World Economic Forum, say hello to Renée Cummings, who will be speaking at multiple events. For everyone in our Slack (sign in | apply), stay tuned as we continue evolving to better support collaboration across our online community, which is on track to exceed 15,000 members this year.

If you haven’t taken our AI Companions survey, it closes on January 15 and we'd still love to hear from you. We’re working on a resource that applies our new HUMAN framework to the diverse set of issues associated with AI companions.

🎊We’re celebrating surpassing 50k followers on LinkedIn; we’ll be using this megaphone to also amplify the numerous initiatives, fellowships, events, and resources in the Responsible Tech ecosystem (have a resource for us? Submit it here).

Now, onto the newsletter! 👇

Slow Violence, Fast Tech: Reclaiming AI for Civil and Human Rights

Join us January 29 at 1 pm ET for a virtual discussion exploring how AI's slow violence is hollowing out hard-won human rights—often incrementally and out of sight—and why civil and human rights communities must actively claim, shape, and leverage this technology in service of our rights and human dignity. The conversation will also highlight the work of the Howard Law AI Initiative Justice Lab, which is seeking to create critical space and opportunity for rights-based innovation grounded in Howard Law’s historic legacy of advancing racial justice and training generations of civil rights leaders.

Malika Saada Saar is a human rights lawyer, technology policy strategist, and global leader shaping how artificial intelligence is governed, deployed, and regulated to protect people and strengthen democratic institutions. Most recently, she served as Global Head of Human Rights at YouTube, where she led company-wide efforts to embed human rights principles into the design, development, and deployment of AI systems. Today, Malika is a Senior Fellow at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs, where she teaches and advises on the governance of AI, democracy, and the rule of law, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies reshape power, access, and opportunity.

Register for our livestream

We welcome Sinead Bovell, our first Braintrust member, as our Responsible Tech Foresight Expert

Sinead Bovell is a futurist and the founder of tech education company, WAYE. You may have seen her popular new series, I’ve Got Questions with Sinead Bovell, or on stage at our previous Responsible Tech Summit, where she was in conversation with Rumman Chowdhury and Rob Reich. We’ve been consistently impressed by Sinead's ability to make complex tech and society issues accessible to both public audiences and companies. We’re excited to welcome her to our new Braintrust as our Responsible Tech Foresight Expert. Get in touch to learn more.

Sinead advises C-suite executives and senior leadership across governments, global corporations, and startups alike, with a core focus on emerging and exponential technologies and their implications for economic and national security, as well as long-term business strategy and model adaptation. She is an 11-time United Nations speaker and has delivered formal addresses to presidents, royalty, and Fortune 500 leaders on topics ranging from synthetic biology to artificial intelligence. She currently serves as an expert advisor to the United Nations AI Advisory Body, focusing on the future of work and AI’s long-term trajectory.

Let’s talk about power.

Hosted by Columbia World Projects, in collaboration with All Tech Is Human, the dynamic in-person conversation between Tim Wu (author of The Age of Extraction, Columbia Law School professor and former White House official) and Julia Angwin (award-winning investigative journalist and founder of Proof News), will dig into how platform power has transformed whole sectors of the economy, how emerging AI systems may accelerate inequality, and what bold legal, institutional, and civic interventions are needed to build a more democratic digital future.

Register for February 3 gathering

📺Related videos: Tim Wu was in conversation with Justin Hendrix at our previous Responsible Tech Summit, and Julia Angwin was in conversation with Greg Epstein (author of Tech Agnostic, which covers All Tech Is Human).

📆On May 21, we’re continuing our collaboration with Alexios Mantzarlis and Cornell Tech’s Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative by hosting a gathering at Cornell Tech focused on the Take It Down Act. Reach out to learn more.

📆On October 29, we will be holding our annual Responsible Tech Summit. This year’s gathering will be held at The Times Center for 375 leaders in Responsible Tech across civil society, government, industry, and academia. We are currently putting together a steering committee and lining up partners and sponsors. Reach out to be involved.

📜Have you read our new Responsible AI Impact Report yet?

Responsible AI Impact Report

Happenings in Responsible Tech

The Responsible Tech movement is stronger when we work together. So, tell us, what are you all up to? If you are connected with an upcoming event, working on a new resource or toolkit, or perhaps launching a new organization, we’d love to hear more about it and potentially feature it in one of our guides, social channels, livestreams, or in-person gatherings. Do you have a resource or event you’d like us to share? Submit it here.

✍️The upcoming deadline for the Digital Trust Council Research Project is January 9th. The Digital Trust Council is looking for researchers at the intersection of technology and societal impact. Learn more and submit here.

🗣️Theodora Skeadas, Strategic Advisor to ATIH, will host a one-hour conversation on pathways into technology policy, Trust and Safety, and Responsible AI. This session is free and open to all. Sign up here to receive the calendar invite and Zoom details for the conversation, taking place on Monday, January 12, from 5:00–6:00 PM ET.

💻New year, new you! If you haven’t taken one or more of our free short Responsible AI courses, now is the time to upskill. These courses are free through the support of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation.

🤹🏼‍♀️Looking to strike a balance with tech in your family? Our friends at the California Partners Project just released a helpful guide.

🚀Young Futures, in collaboration with Hopelab, have launched the Young Futures Awards. They are looking for up to 30 leaders who are pushing the boundaries of digital wellbeing to join the YF500 ecosystem. Awardees will receive $1,500 and become Young Futures Innovators, gain entry to the Young Futures Academy to level up their leadership, and be honored at the inaugural YF Block Party in Austin in March.

Red carpet interviews by AI for All Tomorrows—recorded live at the Responsible Tech Summit

🏎️We’re accelerating the speed of responsibility

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💪 All Tech Is Human is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a more responsible, inclusive, and ethical tech future by uniting a broad range of people and ideas across civil society, government, industry, and academia. Our whole-of-ecosystem approach brings together technologists, academics, civil society leaders, and everyday individuals to collaboratively address complex challenges around AI governance, digital rights, platform accountability, and the broader social impacts of technology.