portrait — click for full bioDr. Chinasa T. Okolo is the Founder of Technecultura, centering her research and advocacy on AI governance and safety for the Global Majority. Dr. Okolo graduated with a Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University, where her research leveraged ethnographic methods to understand how frontline healthcare workers in rural India perceive and value AI and analyzed how AI explainability can meet the needs of novice technology users in the Global Majority. Dr. Okolo's work has been published at top-tier venues in HCI and sociotechnical computing, including the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) CHI, CSCW, COMPASS, EAAMO, and FAccT conferences. She is currently a Legislative AI Fellow in Congress through the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF) program. She has previously worked as the inaugural Policy Lead for Black in AI, a World Bank Group Africa Fellow in the Development Economics Research Group, an AI & Emerging Technologies Policy Specialist at the United Nations, a former Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and in research-based roles at Apple and Microsoft.
Chinasa T. Okolo
Internationally recognized researcher, strategist, and policy advisor on AI governance and safety for the Global Majority, who has presented at 150+ domestic and international workshops, panels, conferences, and webinars.
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While AI has potential to support economic development across Africa, the AI ethics space is dominated by actors who do not understand the African context. My research examines how African governments can effectuate robust AI and data governance, investigates the geopolitical impacts of AI, and analyzes datafication and algorithmic marginalization in Africa. My general research interests include AI governance, AI safety, AI literacy, explainable AI, and African development.