Activists Of Tech — The responsible tech podcast
Episodes
Democratic governance of technology: myth or reality ? With Dr Mar Hicks from the University of Virginia School of Data Science
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to the last episode of this special series exploring the relationship between power and technology! We now know that power and technology...
The TESCREAL to fascism pipeline with Adrienne Williams from the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Reading about TESCREAL feels like reading a bad sci-fi storyline written by a man with a god complex. Unfortunately, it’s real: a movement that allo...
Back to basics: Technofascism 101 with Emile Dirks from the Citizen Lab
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After Trump was elected and tech oligarchs like Elon Musk, an unelected person, started to get power in decision making at the White House, the topic ...
The datafication of refugees: humanitarian agencies & biometrics with Zara Rahman from the Superrr Lab
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Biometrics – our fingerprints, faces, irises, for instance – are increasingly used to verify identity. But what happens when this data collection ...
Mapping for justice: from cartography to GIS, with Cathy Richards from the Open Environmental Data Project
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If cartography, the ancestor of GIS, already displayed colonial patterns and racist stereotypes back in the day, why would the digital legacy of maps ...
How MyBranz fights fake online reviews to save the planet — and your wallet with Janani Kumar, Founder of MyBranz
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A few months ago, in August 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, a rule that will al...
Quit Clicking Kids: protecting child influencers through policy with Chris McCarty, founder of Quit Clicking Kids
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since #KOSA, protecting kids online has continued to be a very hot topic. However, we often overlook the influence industry that also impacts kids onl...
How existing safety mitigation safeguards fail in LLMs with Khaoula Chehbouni, PhD Researcher at McGill and MILA
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Large Language Models, or LLMs, may be the most popular type of AI systems, often seen as an alternative to search engines, even though they should no...
Privacy under attack: how the Tor Project fights digital surveillance, with Raya Sharbain & Pavel Zoneff
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re all very used to being surveilled by now, especially through surveillance capitalism, or the commodification of our personal data - our age, ...
Queer Arab History, social media, and representation with Marwan Kaabour from Takweer
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Queer Arabs are often portrayed as either hated by their own Arab community or as Western imports as if Queerness came along with colonialism. And onl...
History of tech, power relations, & archiving for social justice with Dr Jeffrey Yost from the Charles Babbage Institute
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Technology narratives are set in the present, and all of their promises set in the near future. We’ve heard about flying cars, automated jobs, robot...
Rethinking AI through Indigenous culture with Dane Malenfant from McGill University & MILA
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An interesting thing about AI systems is that without a deliberately designed structure to promote the concept of sharing, AI systems will focus solel...
Online education, AI Ethics, & a vision for global learning with Kadian Davis-Owusu from TeachSomebody
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More often than not, on Activists of Tech, we talk about the problems caused by technology and the solutions or alternatives to these issues. And I ki...
Hope & imagining a better world with B Cavello from the Aspen Institute
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was initially scheduled to be released in mid-December, but it was actually recorded last week, specifically one day after the American e...
Expanding access to art using technology with Colin Clark
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Culture, the arts, or what makes humans.. Humans. Yet it is not accessible to just everyone. When you think about it, how do you make a play accessibl...
No voice unheard: Making digital archives inclusive with Valerie Love from the National Library of New Zealand
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We produce a LOT of data, tweet for any reason, post a gazillion pictures online, and that somehow will give an idea to future generations about who w...
Leveraging AI for Justice in Nigeria and beyond with Nelson Olanipekun from Citizens' Gavel
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Facing an injustice and requiring legal representation is a tedious, complex, and time-consuming process, on top of being expensive and not affordable...
Surveillance in the Bay Area and beyond with Nidhi Sinha
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up in the Bay area with a future drawn for her, Nidhi Sinha did everything she was supposed to do: go to a private high school, pursue a degre...
AI powered K-12 education fiasco with Shana V. White from the Kapor Center
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
AI products and features are becoming ubiquitous. When the targets of AI systems are children in school, it should be common sense that the impacts of...
How to fix the patriartech with Mia Shah-Dand, founder of Women in AI ethics
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sexism and oppression are tied to culture, which in turn impacts the tech industry, tech design and deployment. To talk about the relationship between...
Environmental justice, social media, and the promises of the Digital Services Act with Rachel Griffin, PhD candidate at Sciences Po Paris School of Law
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Digital Services Act was recently passed in the European Union, and I wondered how did this piece of regulation related to climate change and how ...
"Every bubble will burst at some point": digital rights, encryption, and the AI hype with Elina Eickstädt from the Chaos Computer Club
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that encryption could save lives? In this episode, Elina Eickstaedt, spokesperson at the Chaos Computer Club, answers my questions with n...
Decolonizing Digital Rights and the collective imaginary of technology with Laurence Meyer from the Digital Freedom Fund
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take for Big Tech to exist? Who does it take? What knowledge do we value and amplify in AI systems? In this episode, Laurence Meyer, Raci...
Free speech, content moderation, and the "killer switch" with Eliška Pírková from Access Now
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is the relationship between content moderation, social media organizing, censorship and the online space? How is one of our fundamental human rig...
Bye bye, Clearview AI ✌️: Greek digital rights advocacy in times of mass surveillance with Lamprini Gyftokosta from Homo Digitalis
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Remember when Clearview AI got fined 20 million euros by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority for its intrusive Facial Recognition & data collec...
CPDP special series preview: Governance and the voice of the people
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the CPDP special series: Governance and the voice of the people, dedicated to the intersection of activism & tech governance.
Poet and organizer Tawana Petty on visionary resistance, social justice & tech
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this highly informative episode, poet & organizer Tawana Petty talks about her data justice centered work, how she empowers her community to th...
Love me Tinder: can algorithms be matchmakers? With Dr Liesel Sharabi
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can an algorithm really predict who would be your best dating match? Can love be coded and people categorized accurately? And is it ethical? To answer...
Amira Dhalla on how social justice relates to tech, privacy, and cybersecurity
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amira Dhalla is an expert in privacy and security with over a decade of experience in the field, they focus on security and privacy with an equity and...
China's domestic and global tech influence with Melissa Newcomb
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Melissa Newcomb, democracy development professional, touched on several topics including the digital silk road initiative, Chinese ha...
Dr Ann Cavoukian on privacy by design and her career as Privacy Commissioner
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I spoke with Dr Ann Cavoukian, aka the Queen of Privacy, former privacy commissioner of Ontario and Founder of the Global Privacy & Security by De...
Data colonialism, culture, and tech law with Dr Kevin Lee
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To understand tech law you have to understand the history of law, and Dr Lee takes us on a journey in this episode! Starting with a fascinating overvi...
Algorithmic recommendations, social media, and teens’ mental health with Ava Smithing
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Protecting kids online has been a very hot topic this year, especially since the reintroduction of the Kids Online Safety Act in the US Senate, which ...
AI regulation and empowering the next generation of AI policy leaders with Marc Rotenberg
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
2023 was a big year for AI Policy, with AI regulation frameworks being developed all across the world, and a notable event in the European Union, with...
Inclusion, accountability, & women in tech with Dr Nakeema Stefflbauer
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Nakeema Stefflbauer is the founder and CEO of FrauenLoop, a non-profit dedicated to train women from various backgrounds to join the tech industry ...
David Ryan Polgar on responsible tech, democracy, and building the All Tech Is Human community
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first ever episode of Activists Of Tech is out! To open this season, I interviewed the founder of All Tech Is Human, the responsible tech space, D...