​Data & Society Executive Director Janet Haven hosts a critical discussion about AI accountability and the public interest, featuring professor Charlton McIlwain, journalist Julia Angwin, and civic technologist Catherine Bracy.

This event will take place online and in person at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on the 7th Floor

The concentration of power and lack of regulation in the technology industry directly shapes how AI is designed and deployed, and whose interests it serves. That means decisions about these tools often reflect corporate priorities over public benefits. While AI is often held up as a tool to increase “efficiency,” it is essential to ask: efficiency for whom, and at what cost? What would it mean to create and oversee AI in the public’s best interest? How could these technologies be made more accountable to the people and communities they affect? And what is needed to create a future where AI works for everyone?

To join the event in person | Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

To join the event online | Whether you're attending in person or online, you must register with your email address.The Zoom link will be sent to you by email approximately one day before the event. You will need a device with audio and/or video and an internet/cellular connection to join.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Janet Haven is the executive director of Data & Society. She has worked at the intersection of technology policy, governance, and accountability for more than twenty years, both domestically and internationally. From 2022 to 2025, Janet served on the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC), which advises the National AI Initiative Office and the executive branch on a range of issues related to artificial intelligence, and chaired the Rights, Trust, and Safety working group.

Julia Angwin is an award-winning investigative journalist, a bestselling author, a New York Times contributing Opinion writer and a Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. She is the founder of Proof News, a nonprofit journalism studio that launched in 2024.

Catherine Bracy is a civic technologist and community organizer whose work focuses on the intersection of technology and political and economic inequality. She is the founder and CEO of TechEquity and the author of World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy. She was previously Code for America’s Senior Director of Partnerships and Ecosystem and Director of Obama for America’s Technology Field Office in San Francisco. She is on the board of directors at the Data & Society Research Institute and the Terner Housing Lab.

Dr. Charlton McIlwain is Vice Provost for Faculty Development, Pathways & Public Interest Technology at New York University, where he is also Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication. He is the author of Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, From the Afronet to Black Lives Matter and the recent PolicyLink report Algorithmic Discrimination: A Framework and Approach to Auditing & Measuring the Impact of Race-Targeted Digital Advertising. McIlwain is the founder of the Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies, and is Board President at Data & Society Research Institute.

COMING UP in Understanding AI 

Part IV: Standing Up for Human Value in the AI Economy | November 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM

REGISTER | In this closing session, D&S Labor Futures Program Director Aiha Nguyen talks with AI Now Institute Co-Executive Director Amba Kak, Michelle Miller, Director of Innovation at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy, and Writers Guild of America East Executive Director Sam Wheeler about the value of human labor in increasingly automated workplaces.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTES

In-Person

• Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue.


• You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.


• This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

Livestream

• Captions and a transcript will be provided.


• You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail templateaccessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

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Understanding AI is a collaboration with Data & Society, an independent nonprofit research and policy institute. Data & Society studies the social, political, and economic implications of data-centric technologies, automation, and AI, and uses that knowledge to inform and shape policy from the ground up. Learn more at datasociety.net.

All programs are subject to change or cancellation. All programs are subject to recording and photography. The 7 Stories Up Series at SNFL is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).