Sarah Myers West
Managing Director, AI Now Institute
Her award-winning research and writing blends social science, policy, and history to address the intersection of technology, labor, and accountability.
Sarah is the lead author of several AI Now flagship research projects including Discriminating Systems: Gender, Race and Power in AI. She co-designed AI Now’s Gender, Race and Power in AI and Labor research agendas, and coordinated research for AI Now’s annual reports, among others. Prior to AI Now, she was the Wallis Annenberg Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Southern California, and has received Google Policy and New America Cybersecurity Fellowships.
Sarah has served as a Senior Advisor on AI at the Federal Trade Commission, and is a Visiting Research Scientist at the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University. She holds Doctoral and Masters Degrees in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, a Masters in Public Diplomacy from Annenberg and the Dornsife School of International Relations, and a BA with Distinction in Media Studies from the University of Virginia.
Her forthcoming book, Tracing Code (University of California Press), draws on years of historical and social scientific research to examine the origins of data capitalism and commercial surveillance. Her writing is published in journals including Social Studies of Science, New Media & Society, the International Journal of Communication, Policy & Internet and Business and Society, and her research is featured in the Wall Street Journal, NBC , the Associated Press, and Motherboard, among others.
Email: sarah [at] ainowinstitute.orgContributed to
(23) Publications
New!
in the news
The White House AI R&D Strategy Offers a Good Start – Here’s How to Make It Better
Tech Policy Press
May 30, 2023
New!
in the news
The rise of AI will only make Big Tech more powerful, researchers warn
Business Insider
April 25, 2023
New!
in the news
Generative AI risks concentrating Big Tech’s power. Here’s how to stop it.
MIT Technology Review
April 18, 2023
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
500 Top Technologists and Elon Musk Demand Immediate Pause of Advanced AI Systems
Gizmodo
March 29, 2023
Google’s Bard AI chatbot has now been released to the public
New Scientist
March 21, 2023
Sam Altman says ‘potentially scary’ AI is on the horizon. This is what keeps AI experts up at night
EuroNews
February 28, 2023
How AI chatbots are changing how we write and who we trust
On Point (NPR/WBUR)
January 10, 2023
Mental health service criticised for experiment with AI chatbot
New Scientist
January 10, 2023
In the Outcry over the Apple Card, Bias is a Feature, Not a Bug
Sarah Myers West
November 22, 2019
Discriminating Systems: Gender, Race, and Power in AI – Report
AI Now Institute
,April 1, 2019