Intelligence Briefing
President of the Signal Foundation, the nonprofit behind the encrypted messaging app. Co-founded the AI Now Institute at NYU, one of the first academic centers focused on the social implications of AI. Former Google employee who organized the 2018 Google Walkout over the company's handling of sexual harassment and Project Maven. In 2025, warned that agentic AI poses "profound" privacy and security risks and called AI agents an "existential threat" to secure messaging.
BA, Rhetoric and English Literature — University of California, Berkeley
Operational History
Warning on Agentic AI
Warned that agentic AI poses profound privacy and security risks, calling it an existential threat to secure messaging.
policyCo-Founded AI Now Institute
Co-founded the AI Now Institute at NYU to study the social implications of artificial intelligence.
foundingGoogle Walkout
Organized the Google Walkout in response to the company's handling of sexual harassment and Project Maven.
careerAGI Position Assessment
Unknown
Focuses on structural power dynamics in AI. Argues safety cannot be separated from surveillance, labor exploitation, and corporate concentration. Warns that agentic AI undermines privacy and security. Advocates for privacy-first design and nonprofit governance of critical infrastructure.
Focuses on structural power dynamics in AI. Argues safety cannot be separated from surveillance, labor exploitation, and corporate concentration. Warns that agentic AI undermines privacy and security. Advocates for privacy-first design and nonprofit governance of critical infrastructure.
Intercepted Communications
“Agentic AI poses profound privacy and security risks.”
Research Output
The Steep Cost of Capture
2021AI Now Institute
Analysis of the implications of corporate capture in AI.
Disability, Bias, and AI
2020AI Now Institute
Research on the intersection of disability and AI bias.
AI Now Annual Reports
2019AI Now Institute
Annual reports assessing the social implications of AI.
Known Associates
Kate Crawford
collaboratorCollaborated on AI Now Institute initiatives.
View Dossier →Timnit Gebru
collaboratorWorked together on AI ethics and governance.
View Dossier →Ruha Benjamin
collaboratorEngaged in discussions on AI and social justice.
View Dossier →Danah Boyd
collaboratorCollaborated on research related to technology and society.
View Dossier →Organizational Affiliations
Current
Signal Foundation
President
2020 - Present
Former
AI Now Institute
Co-Founder & Faculty Director
2017 - 2020
Employee
2004 - 2017
Source Material
Dossier last updated: 2026-03-04