Amba Kak
Executive Director, AI Now Institute
In step with a fast evolving field, her transnational expertise spans a range of issues including AI regulation, data privacy, competition, network neutrality and digital copyright.
Amba previously held the role of Director of Global Policy & Programs at AI Now, where she designed and implemented a pioneering policy research agenda, including the first global compendium on Regulating Biometrics and an international, multi-organization project on Algorithmic Accountability, among many others. Prior to AI Now, Amba was Global Policy Adviser at Mozilla, where she helped develop Mozilla’s policy positions, and supported a multi-pronged campaign for data protection laws in India and Kenya. As a legal consultant at the National Institute of Public Finance & Policy, she has also advised India’s telecommunications regulator (TRAI) on net-neutrality rules.
Amba Kak has served as Senior Advisor on AI at the Federal Trade Commission and is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University. She also serves on the Program & Strategy Committee for the Mozilla Foundation, where she advises the non-profit on its philanthropic and advocacy work.
Amba has been the recipient of the Google Policy Fellowship and the Mozilla Tech Policy Fellowship. Her work is published widely across academic journals and popular outlets, and has been featured in Nature, MIT Tech Review, Politico, among many others. Trained as a lawyer, Amba received her BA LLB (Hons) from the National University of Juridical Sciences in India. She has a Masters in Law (BCL) and an MSc in the Social Science of the Internet at the University of Oxford, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar.
Email: amba [at] ainowinstitute.orgContributed to
(14) Publications
New!
in the news
Opinion | Competition authorities need to move fast and break up AI
Financial Times
April 17, 2023
General Purpose AI Poses Serious Risks, Should Not Be Excluded From the EU’s AI Act | Policy Brief
AI Now Institute
, ,April 13, 2023
New!
in the news
The Technology 202: Former FTC advisors urge swift action to counteract ‘AI hype’
The Washington Post
April 11, 2023
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in the news
AI Isn’t Omnipotent. It’s Janky. – an interview with Amba Kak
The Atlantic
April 3, 2023
The Battle For AI Supremacy Got Super Intense This Week, Risks Be Damned
BuzzfeedNews
March 17, 2023
As A.I. Booms, Lawmakers Struggle to Understand the Technology
The New York Times
March 3, 2023
Sam Altman says ‘potentially scary’ AI is on the horizon. This is what keeps AI experts up at night
EuroNews
February 28, 2023
China in Global Tech Discourse
Meredith Whittaker, Shazeda Ahmed, and Amba Kak
May 27, 2021
Regulating Biometrics: Taking stock of a rapidly changing landscape
Amba Kak
September 23, 2020
Regulating Biometrics: Global Approaches and Open Questions
AI Now Institute
,September 1, 2020
AI and Climate Change: How they’re connected, and what we can do about it
Roel Dobbe, Meredith Whittaker
October 17, 2019