At your next event, have your connectors listen to and learn from one of the world’s greatest connectors.
Starting his career as a human rights lawyer and an early advocate of social media, Jake Hirsch-Allen’s life’s work has been bringing together people and ideas. His ultimate goal is to develop and nurture public-private partnerships in order to fight global inequity. How? By connecting deliberative democracy with artificial intelligence (AI); this process will help to not only improve our complex relationship with tech, but to bring about the democratic legitimacy of AI.
“Bold steps are needed to embed citizen voices from across the globe in defining the future of AI,” he says.
Controlling data like this takes big decisions: what and how it is collected, how it is used, and who gets to see it. According to the nonprofit Connected By Data, community should be put at the center of data narratives, practices and policies. Jake agrees that the way people think and talk about data needs to change. The answer lies in participatory approaches so that data is regulated to include societal and environmental interests as well as privacy rights.
Jake is a Senior Fellow at The Dais think tank and the Center for Media Technology at the University of Pennsylvania. His groundbreaking public-private partnership work, which includes serving as board director at Ontario Tech Talent and the Canadian Club, has been recognized as a major step forward in workforce development. As an advisor for the Mila AI Institute, Jake makes recommendations on how AI governance will impact investors, sector leaders and startups.
As lead of North America Workforce Development and Higher Ed System for Linkedin, this natural networker (along with friend and colleague Scott Parrish) conducted a massive survey called Purpose at Work. The results showed that companies do better across every metric (sales, customer success, employee satisfaction, retention and productivity) when their employees’ values are genuinely aligned with their corporate values.
While Global AI continues to evolve and define itself and its role in the world, Jake recognizes the need for solid frameworks and meaningful mechanisms that allow for deliberative citizen input.
From every angle, Jake tackles processes that improve AI governance, including those offered by Connected by Data :
● Technology-enabled collective intelligence
● Deliberative reviews
● Independent global assemblies
● Distributed dialogues
● Integrating AI into other deliberative processes
“It’s one of the best summaries of the space I’ve come across,” Jake says of the list. “It is a much-needed critical assessment of the use of citizens’ assemblies and related participatory mechanisms in AI governance, at a moment when citizens' voices are too often cut out of a conversation dominated by large corporations and unrepresentative governments.”
Jake is eager to share these ideas with your audience. Processes like these are the key to healthy AI development and governance. AI must be in sync with public needs, and that requires everybody’s participation, especially those who are normally left out of the global governance debate.
Jake was gaming at 7 on an Apple Classic in New Delhi and at 13 in Ottawa programming an elevator bank. After law school, he wrestled with privacy, intellectual property, and technology rights while clerking at Israel’s Supreme Court, litigating and lobbying in Parliament and Capital Hills.
Jake co-founded Canada’s largest software boot camp and innovated state-wide public-private partnerships for LinkedIn via Microsoft. He’s progressed from infatuation with tech, through understanding its means of production and navigating its halls of power, to a desire for greater human agency over its development and use.
Jake was the Executive Director of McGill’s International Criminal Law Clinic and Chair of the Global Education Platform’s Technology Committee. He has worked for Global Affairs Canada, McGill’s Centre for IP Policy and UofT’s Munk Center. He also interned at Human Rights Watch and on defense teams at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
As a youth, Jake, the son of a diplomat, bounced around between Mexico and New Delhi, Washington and Israel. That regular disruption of his life, that regular creation of a new community forced him to learn how to build community quickly. It allowed him to explore intercultural observations and experiences in ways that many don’t have the opportunity to until later in their life, if ever. This created a strong curiosity in him a desire to constantly learn more about other people, communities and cultures.
The talk on AI governance and applications provides an in-depth examination of the evolving landscape of AI governance. It traces the historical context of AI, referencing key figures such as Nicholas Carr and Alan Turing, and explores contemporary governance challenges.
The discussion underscores the importance of AI governance frameworks that promote responsible experimentation in controlled environments rather than imposing outright restrictions. Emphasis is placed on recognizing AI’s limitations and ensuring that governance strategies mitigate risks while enabling innovation. Various AI tools, including ChatGPT and Claude, are analyzed, illustrating both their capabilities and potential pitfalls, reinforcing the need for accountability in AI deployment.
This talk also explores AI’s intersection with clean energy, highlighting governance considerations for sustainable AI integration. Transparency emerges as a critical pillar, particularly in embedding AI within everyday software, ensuring that users and stakeholders understand AI-driven decision-making processes. The talk concludes with key action items centered on responsible experimentation, advancing AI applications, and implementing transparency measures to uphold ethical AI governance.
This debate-meets-strategy session will role-play how to counter Big Tech’s influence based on “player’s” strengths & weaknesses. Participants will model how the responsible tech movement can most efficiently & ethically create an internet more aligned with Mozilla’s manifesto.
Reforming Big Tech requires our diverse skills. Join us to debate solutions based on your individual relevant superpowers.
This talk is specifically geared to intrapreneurs working within large organizations, researchers from think tanks & policy development, campaigners driving social movements & change, investors impact investing in startups & nonprofits disrupting Big Tech, litigators working under current laws such as class action suits, lobbyers for regulation or taxation.
Jake delves into the evolving landscape of professional networking in the midst of increasing digitalization and AI and the rise of hybrid work models. This engaging presentation will explore the challenges and opportunities presented by this shift, and share valuable insights into leveraging AI, digital platforms, mastering virtual communication techniques, and maintaining meaningful connections in both virtual and physical spaces. Whether you’re a seasoned networker, or just beginning to navigate this new terrain, this talk offers practical advice for professionals across all sectors.
