Mutale Nkonde

Mutale Nkonde is a journalist and AI policy researcher recognized for her work at the intersection of race, technology, and public policy. Nkonde began her career as a broadcast journalist, producing documentaries for networks such as BBC, CNN, and ABC. She later transitioned to technology, focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning, and served as an AI policy advisor for Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. Nkonde holds a Bachelor of Science in sociology from Leeds Metropolitan University and a master's degree in American studies from Columbia University. She has held fellowships at Notre Dame and Stanford.

Nkonde founded AI for the People, a public sector responsible AI team focused on product policy and policy advocacy. Her work in Congress included fellowships at Data & Society and the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard. While at Data & Society, Nkonde founded the Dorothy Vaughan Tech Symposium briefing series on Capitol Hill and contributed to the introduction of the Algorithmic Accountability Act and Deep Fakes Accountability Act. She also played a role in the introduction of the No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Algorithmic Accountability Act requires impact assessments to ensure machine learning technologies comply with nondiscrimination laws before market release.

AI for the People has advised the U.S. government, industry, and the United Nations. Nkonde participated in one of Senator Schumer's AI Insight Panels and assisted the Congressional Black Caucus in developing its AI policy platform. AI for the People has also engaged in shareholder activism, using proxy votes to encourage responsible AI development among major technology companies. Nkonde was appointed to the TikTok Content Moderation Board, where she collaborates with national experts on the impact of online discourse on offline behavior.

Nkonde's work to increase public awareness about facial recognition includes a news segment on shareholder activism around facial recognition that received a New York Emmy Award. She completed a film on Afrofuturism and racism in technology, which was submitted to Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space and accepted into the HBO Shorts category of the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival. AI for the People co-produced a film with Amnesty International to support the "Ban the Scan" campaign, a global initiative to ban facial recognition. Nkonde is a co-author of a report on racial literacy and technology and speaks widely on race, policy, and artificial intelligence.

Nkonde has faced challenges, including a far-right online harassment campaign that led to the retraction of a peer-reviewed paper. She was accepted as a Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholar at Cambridge University, where she is pursuing a doctorate in digital humanities. Her research focuses on far-right narratives that migrate from white to Black communities globally. Nkonde also serves as a visiting policy fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her career spans journalism, legislative advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and academic research, contributing to ongoing discussions about AI, equity, and technology governance.