AI meets human rights meets diplomacy: Lessons from 9 months at the State Department with Dr. Jesse Dunietz
A common refrain in the technology world is that policymakers need more technological expertise. Those of us from technical backgrounds may want to help, but what “policy” work consists of and how people come to contribute to it can seem opaque. This non-technical talk will attempt to demystify tech policy work and shed light on where technical expertise does and does not matter. I will discuss my experiences as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Department of State working at the intersection of computer science and human rights. Anecdotes about working as a computer scientist in the federal government will abound, but I will also draw out more general lessons from those experiences.
This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Computer Science & MDI