Co-Opting AI: Geopolitics
NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, Sloane Lab, and the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab at the University of Virginia invite you to a new discussion in the series “Co-Opting AI.” This will be a completely virtual event.
This event will examine the geopolitical dimensions of AI – from national security aspects, to global political economy concerns, ethical dimensions, and diplomacy implications.
Pablo Chavez is a technology policy expert who advises corporations and other organizations on technology policy and strategy, with a focus on artificial intelligence and cloud computing. A contributor to Lawfare and the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Pablo has been quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Politico. He is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Pablo serves on the board of the Open Technology Fund (OTF) and on the advisory committees of the Princeton University Center for Information Technology Policy and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. From 2018 to 2022, Pablo was Vice President of Google Cloud’s global public policy and government relations team, leading an international organization on issues including digital sovereignty, cybersecurity, and AI. Partnering with business, product, and engineering leaders, he helped shape policy strategy for core cloud offerings, technical infrastructure investments, and global transactions. Previously, Pablo served as Senior Counsel to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and later as Chief Counsel to Senator John McCain, advising on corporate governance, internet regulation and taxation, consumer protection, technology policy, financial services regulation, and CFIUS reform. Pablo received his law degree from Stanford Law School and his bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University.
Chinasa T. Okolo, PhD, is the founder of Technecultura, a policy specialist at the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET), and a recent computer science PhD graduate from Cornell University. Her research focuses on AI governance and safety for the Global Majority, datafication and algorithmic marginalization, and the geopolitical impacts of AI. Dr. Okolo has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential people in AI by TIME, honored in the inaugural Forbes 30 Under 30 AI list, and advises numerous multilateral institutions, national governments, corporations, and nonprofits. She is a former fellow at the Brookings Institution and has worked in research-based roles at Apple and Microsoft. Her research has been covered widely in media outlets and published at top-tier venues in human-computer interaction and sociotechnical computing.
Nick Srnicek is a senior lecturer in digital economy at King’s College London. His books include Silicon Empires (Polity, 2025), After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time (Verso, 2023 with Helen Hester), Platform Capitalism (Polity, 2016), and Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work (Verso, 2015 with Alex Williams).
Mona Sloane is an Assistant Professor of Data Science and Media Studies at the University of Virginia (UVA). As a sociologist, she studies the intersection of technology and society, specifically in the context of AI design, use, and policy. She also convenes the Co-Opting AI series and serves as the editor of the Co-Opting AI book series at the University of California Press as well as the Technology Editor for Public Books. At UVA, Mona runs Sloane Lab which conducts empirical research on the implications of technology for the organization of social life. Its focus lies on AI as a social phenomenon that intersects with wider cultural, economic, material, and political conditions. The lab spearheads social science leadership in applied work on responsible AI, public scholarship, and technology policy. More here: monasloane.org.
The Co-Opting AI event series is convened by Mona Sloane. It is hosted by NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, UVA’s Digital Technology for Democracy Lab, and Sloane Lab.